ABSTRACT
As ultimately the most powerful early Korean state which unified the peninsula in 668, Silla is often seen as an independent and separate power arising in the southeastern peninsula. This chapter reveals that Silla’s material culture roots are indistinguishable from Kaya, arising from the early stoneware and tomb traditions of the Yŏngnam region. The emergence of an elite lineage claiming separate Silla identity is reflected in the material culture only late in the protohistoric period from the 5th century onwards.
