이 글에서는 문헌자료와 고고학자료를 활용하여 신라 건국신화에 나오는 六村이라는 정치체가 후대에 부회된 허구적인 존재가 아니라 역사적 실체임을 밝히고자 하였다. 육촌 허구설의 주요 근거는 신라에서는 4세기 이후 촌이라는 용어를 사용하기 시작하였고 성을 칭한 것도 6세기 이후이므로 六姓始祖설화가 완성되는 과정에서 六村의 존재가 새로이 만들어졌다는 것이다. 그러나 六村 전승과 六姓시조 설화는 성립시기와 성립 배경이 서로 다른 별개의 전승이다. 六姓 가문의 시조설화는 통일기 이후에 만들어진 것이며, 六村 전승은 훨씬 이전에 형성된 것이다. 건국신화 완성시 이전부터 전해오던 六村 전승에 六姓의 始祖 설화를 부회하여 두 갈래의 전승이 하나로 합쳐졌고 이 때 후대적 요소가 부가되었다. 육촌의 형성 배경을 뒷받침하는 고고학자료는 기원전 2세기 말이래 경상도 각지에서 새로이 등장하는 목관묘, 목곽묘로 구성된 대규모 집단묘역이다. 이의 출현은 위만조선 멸망을 전후하여 서북지방에서 일어난 정치, 문화적 파동의 여파로 유발된 연쇄적인 주민 이동의 결과물이며 새로운 정치체 형성을 반영하는 자료이다. 村과 部의 차이는 공간적인 확대나 양적인 확대만이 아니라 결속 관계의 질적 변화를 동반하는 것이다. 경주에서 울산으로 통하는 동남 방면의 목관묘, 목곽묘자료 유적 중에서 초기 진지촌과 관련지울 수 있는 세력은 구정동 유적과 입실리유적 두 곳이다. 3세기 후반까지 이들을 중심으로 양적 확대 과정이 있었으며 3세기말~4세기 초반에 이르러 구정동 세력의 우세가 뚜렷해진다. 하지만 집단간의 결속 관계는 아직도 병렬적인 구조를 완전히 극복하지 못하였다. 고고학자료상으로 집단간의 결속 관계에 질적인 변화가 분명해지는 것은 적석목곽분 단계이며 촌에서 부로의 전환도 이와 동일한 맥락에서 이해할 수 있다. 六村은 사로국을 구성한 6개 읍락에 해당하며 이러한 고고학자료의 검토를 통해 진한 소국을 구성한 읍락이라는 정치체의 등장시기, 배경, 그리고 공간적인 분포 상태 등을 알 수 있다.
In Samguk sagi (History of the Three Kingdoms) and Samguk yusa (Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms), mythologies say that Silla had been established from the unification of ‘six-chon’ (six village groupings), and the chiefs from these groupings, in later period, became the six founders of Silla. Therefore, studying Saro's ‘six-chon’ is essential to understand Silla's early stage of growth including the formation of Saro and its development processes. The purpose of this article is to support the existence of ‘six-chon’ that once had constituted Saro. Examining these six village groupings is important because it not only shed light on Silla's early history, but it also explains the formative background and the spatial distribution of the political entities(Eup-rak) constituting Samhan's small states. Examining archeological materials and literary records, the author, in this article, argues that the political entities called 'six chon,' as appeared in the mythology of Silla's formation, are not fictional (or imaginative) substances of the later generations. The author claims that they existed in real and should be seen as historical substances. Some arguments against disapproving the existence of ‘six-chon’ are mainly based on the logic that the story of ‘six-chon’ had been made during the process of perfecting the legend of six-clan founders of Silla, as well as the fact that the usage of the term ‘chon’ (grouping) was initiated after the fourth century in Silla, while the term ‘sung’ (family name) appeared after the sixth century. However, the legend of six-family name (6姓) founders was not established until the Silla Unification; whereas the transmission of the mythology of ‘six-chon’ appeared much prior to the Unification of Silla. These suggest that the two legends are distinct to each other. When Silla's founding legend had been completed, the story on ‘six-chon’ from prior period was manipulated, forged into the analogy of the six clan founders of Silla. During this process, the two distinct stories were combined, and substances from post-generational influence were added to the transmitted story of ‘six-chon’. Therefore, it is hard to approve the argument that ‘six-chon’ are fictional entities. Next, in this article, the author attempts to reveal the formative background of ‘six-chon’ by analyzing archeological data. After the late second century B.C. in Kyeongsang Province, agglomeration of wood coffin tombs have existed in large-scale. Such archeological data suggest that there had been rapid population growth within the Kyeongsang Province, and the formation of new polities occurred in large-scale. The wood coffin tombs located in Kyeongju area have the same historical context. In addition, the period of ‘six-chon’ formation in the literary records are identical to the archeological time period of the wood coffin tombs. Archeological data plays an important part in explaining the formative background of ‘six-chon’ of Saro. Lastly, by examining archeological materials of the wood coffin tombs located in the south-eastern side of Kyeongju area (from Gyeongjoo to Uoolsan), the author attempts to discover the scope and the growth process of Jinji-chon, one of the six village groupings in Saro. Among the tomb remains excavated in Kyeongju area, Gujeong-dong and Ipsi-li are the main political entities constituting Jinji-chon in its early development. Until the late third century, Jinji-chon expanded quantitatively. In later period, from the late third century to the early fourth century, Gujeong-dong group obtained superior power to Ipsil-li group. But, Gujeong-dong group had not yet overcome the competing forces within itself, such as Guo-ri group. These circumstances suggest that Gujeong-dong group had not completely overcome the parallel power structure within itself, in spite of the growing collaborative relationship with the polities joining from outside. According to the archeological records, it is only after the late fourth century when the construction of underground receptacles of coffin tombs appeared, and after the late fourth century, the relationship among the polities had ‘qualitatively’ improved as a unity. Discerning the differences between ‘six-chon’ and ‘six-bu’ (six political entities), not only the transformation of their quantitative or spatial expansion of the groups, but also the qualitative improvement in their collaborative relationship as a unity must be followed. In this respect, the transformation of Jingi-chon into Bonpi-bu had not occurred until the stage of constructing the underground receptacle of a coffin tombs.