The major objective of this dissertation is to examine the socio-political development of Ara Gaya located in the present county of Haman, in South Gyeongsang Province, Korea. Ara Gaya was one of Six Gayas located in the southern part of Korean peninsula between the first century and the middle of the sixth century A. D. By combining historical documents and archaeological records, I attempted to examine how Ara Gaya made a progress in terms of politics, economy, and culture over time. For historical documents, I used the Samguk sagi and Nihon Shoki , two of the oldest extant historical documents in Korea and Japan respectively. Goguryeo King Gwanggaeto’s stele which contains a few interesting accounts concerning Ara Gaya was also incorporated in the research. For archaeological records, a great number of mortuary data that have been excavated from Japanese colonial period to up to the present are utilized.
It seems that Ara Gaya was one of the fast growing polities in the entire Gaya region from the beginning of the fifth century A. D. It has been generally accepted that huge high-mounded tombs with lots of mortuary offerings had appeared in the political center of Ara Gaya from the middle of the fifth century. Burial structures and grave goods such as pottery and iron artifacts discovered from a large number of burials in and in the vicinity of Haman were analyzed. According to the outcome of archaeological analyses, Ara Gaya manufactured a great deal of stonewares and a wide variety of iron implements. A number of stoneware kiln sites have also been excavated in the vicinity of Haman. So far, iron production sites have not yet been discovered in Haman. However, a lot of iron ingots probably produced in Ara Gaya have been identified in association with Ara Gaya style pottery in many different places in the southern part of the Korean peninsula. This indicates that Ara Gaya may have been involved in iron production as well.
According to historical documents, Ara Gaya established long-distance trade networks with neighboring polities. They exported their goods to not only neighboring polities in the southern part of Korean peninsula but also polities located in Kinai and Kyushu regions in ancient Japan(also known as Wa). Based on this economic basis, Ara Gaya became prosperous and was able to have achieved a remarkable political development and became one of the leading political organizations in the Gaya regions.
According to the Nihon Shoki , Ara Gaya established a close political relationship with Silla, Goguryeo kingdoms, and Wa, from the end of the fourth century. Taken all these together, I came to a conclusion that Ara Gaya may have reached a primitive state-level society some time between the middle of the fifth and the middle of the sixth centuries. The majority of Korean scholars have been treating Geumgwan Gaya(Gimhae) as the leader of the Former Gaya and Dae Gaya(Goryeong) as the leader of the Latter Gaya. Considering the historical documents and archaeological records, I argue that it is time to extrapolate Ara Gaya in between the two Gayas as the leader of the Middle Gaya.
Not many Korean historians and archaeologists have paid a close attention to the mechanisms that may have played a role for the political development of Ara Gaya. As I emphasized the importance of the role of long-distance exchange, I hope that this research will make a meaningful contribution to future studies of Ara Gaya in specific and Six Gayas in general.