ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the distribution of dolmens in the Golan and draws where possible a clear distinction between the trilithon dolmens of Claire Epstein's Type 1 and the more elaborate tombs of Types 2–6. It argues that only a few small dolmen fields stood on the plateau in the later 4th millennium BCE, and that these clusters relate spatially to the few small settlement sites occupied during the Early Bronze I. Larger dolmen fields are found further east on the Raqqad plateau and in the Leja. Epstein described the Golan as the heartland of the dolmen tradition in the Levant: 'in the course of time,' she suggested, 'the tradition became so deeply rooted that the custom of building a dolmen-type structure to serve as a tomb was continued in regions of chert and limestone, such as northern Gilead, and Galilee'.
