Worlds of Authority, Communities of Practice, and State Formation in Early 1st Millennium Central Korea
type: CreativeWork
description: Processes of state formation remain a key topic of debate in archaeology, with linear evolutionary models coming under increasing scrutiny and alternative models of social complexity accompanying these critiques. Studying the transition from Mahan (Late Iron Age; 100 BC – 300 AD) to the Baekje kingdom (Three Kingdoms Period; 300 – 668 AD) in the central part of Korea contributes on both these fronts. Models of state formation in Korea tend towards aforementioned evolutionary schemes, whereby a single chiefdom within the Mahan confederacy expanded outwards to form a territorial state via diplomacy and force. To test this account this thesis develops a socio-political model of heterarchy based on multiple ‘worlds’ of what can be called natural or epistemic authority, with authority freely given by autonomous subjects voluntarily subjugating themselves based on situational evaluations of competence. In the first part of this thesis, textual and multi-scalar archaeological analyses (mapping distributions of consumption, storage, and production activities) of settlements in the Han River Basin and Hwaseong Region during the Later Iron Age, reveal that Mahan groups were organized along the principles of situational natural/epistemic authority, with multiple non-mutually exclusive leadership roles. That Mahan groups had multiple, parallel positions of authority and little indication of permanent social ranks forces a reconsideration of the prevailing accounts concerning Baekje state formation. An analogous multi-scalar investigation into the Early Baekje Period shows a narrowing in the worlds of authority to one specific field of action involving public feasting, whereby an apparently exclusive community of practice emerged at particular locales, eclipsing the heterogeneity evident in the Later Iron Age. I argue that this exclusive community grew due to certain local leaders taking opportunities to monopolise the exchange of certain goods, particularly those related to lon…
abstract: Processes of state formation remain a key topic of debate in archaeology, with linear evolutionary models coming under increasing scrutiny and alternative models of social complexity accompanying these critiques. Studying the transition from Mahan (Late Iron Age; 100 BC – 300 AD) to the Baekje kingdom (Three Kingdoms Period; 300 – 668 AD) in the central part of Korea contributes on both these fronts. Models of state formation in Korea tend towards aforementioned evolutionary schemes, whereby a single chiefdom within the Mahan confederacy expanded outwards to form a territorial state via diplomacy and force. To test this account this thesis develops a socio-political model of heterarchy based on multiple ‘worlds’ of what can be called natural or epistemic authority, with authority freely given by autonomous subjects voluntarily subjugating themselves based on situational evaluations of competence. In the first part of this thesis, textual and multi-scalar archaeological analyses (mapping distributions of consumption, storage, and production activities) of settlements in the Han River Basin and Hwaseong Region during the Later Iron Age, reveal that Mahan groups were organized along the principles of situational natural/epistemic authority, with multiple non-mutually exclusive leadership roles. That Mahan groups had multiple, parallel positions of authority and little indication of permanent social ranks forces a reconsideration of the prevailing accounts concerning Baekje state formation. An analogous multi-scalar investigation into the Early Baekje Period shows a narrowing in the worlds of authority to one specific field of action involving public feasting, whereby an apparently exclusive community of practice emerged at particular locales, eclipsing the heterogeneity evident in the Later Iron Age. I argue that this exclusive community grew due to certain local leaders taking opportunities to monopolise the exchange of certain goods, particularly those related to lon…
author: Blackmore, Hari
language: eng
keywords: state formation, early Korea, Mahan(馬韓)-Baekje(百濟) transition, socio-political heterarchy, authority
license: https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/47edf993-f524-4cfa-bc21-5e3569f23219/download
license: https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/
date published: 2019-09-01
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:20Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.53785