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 long distance trade/diplomatic missions to Mainland China.

However, elements of the heterarchical nature of Mahan persisted, with individual settlements maintaining similar principles of organization. Furthermore, stylistic, petrographic and compositional analyses of prestige Black Burnished Pottery explores whether the production of stylized serving ceramics was rooted locally or under central control. Identifying multiple loci of production indicates that, while local stratification is occurring, Early Baekje itself appears as a voluntary distributed network based on a new category of leader whose authority is grounded within membership of a particular community of practice.