Collective action and leadership strategies in the Mahan polities: An examination of grave goods from Bogam-ri Tomb, Naju, Korea

This paper examines temporal changes in grave-good assemblages from a collective tomb and discusses the circumstances under which elites manipulated pooled resources for individual status and power. The need for cooperation and communal labor in agriculture in Naju, Korea, is believed to have suppressed the personal use of public capital. Although status and wealth differences were not clear in the settlement data, some graves contained luxury goods that suggested the operation of external social networks after 450 CE. There was the persistent need for collaborative labor for agricultural production and the bargaining power of the local population presumably remained the same over the study period (ca. 250–650 CE). The observed changes reflect a shift in emphasis among different types of public benefits toward more social demand for security and defense. There was the emergence of new social settings, in which some individuals could demand a large share of the spoils for their diplomatic efforts. •The privatization of pooled resources requires public consent.•The reliance on cooperation limited conspicuous consumption of luxury goods in Naju.•Some individuals started to possess exotic items after 450 CE.•Public demand for security and defense allowed the individualized use of wealth.