Constructing "Korean" Origins: A Critical Review of Archaeology, Historiography, and Racial Myth in Korean State-Formation Theories Tapa dura - 2000

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In this wide-ranging study, Hyung Il Pai examines how archaeological finds from throughout Northeast Asia have been used in Korea to construct a myth of state formation emphasizing the ancient development of a pure Korean race that created a prehistoric civilization rivaling those of China and Japan. Pai traces the many facets of the development of this myth from the theories of Japanese archaeologists working for the colonial regime in Korea through the reaction to these theories of nationalist historians in postwar South Korea. Her deconstruction of the uses and abuses of archaeology reveal how archaeological data have been utilized to legitimate Korean nationalism and a particular form of "pan-Tongi" ethnic identity. Her re-analysis of the archaeological data, however, shows that state formation occurred much later in the peninsula through a process of sustained culture contact and culture change stimulated by the material culture of Han China, which entered the peninsula via the Han dynasty outpost of Lelang commandery, located near what is now P'yongyang, the North Korean capital.

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• Choice, 06/01/2001, Page 1847