Not a single radiocarbon date has been obtained. The combination of this heavily disturbed history and poor preservation has resulted in the absence of reliable datable material from most excavated dolmens. Levantine dolmens are large structures, dominating the landscape, and many were either robbed or reused after their initial construction. Dolmens are so numerous that the term dolmen field had to be abandoned, as no margins could be observed separating the massive concentrations covering the central and south Golan. More than 5600 megalithic structures were documented during the archaeological survey of the Golan, most of which are dolmens. In addition, the growing number of dolmens excavated during construction and development in Israel has led to better understanding of these megaliths in the Galilee and Golan. In recent years dolmen studies have been advanced primarily by researchers east of the Dead Sea Rift Valley. Above all, the precise chronology of the dolmens has yet to be established. The precise definition of dolmens is under debate, as well as their use, significance, and geographical distribution. Yet 200 years later dolmens remain among the less understood archaeological phenomena in the Levant. Conder of the Palestine Exploration Fund laid the foundation for dolmen studies, mapping, describing, and drawing dozens of them from Syria, the Jordan Valley, the Upper Galilee, and the Golan Heights.

In 1850 the French researcher De Saulcy first used the term “dolmen” to describe the megaliths at Adeimeh in Jordan. Of Stones and Social Complexity – The Shamir Dolmen Field and the Intermediate Bronze Age By Uri Berger and Gonen Sharonĭolmens – megalithic stone tombs – are among the earliest archaeological features documented in the Levant, first reported in 1817.

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Dolmen construction