Mapping regional settlement in information space

Determining patterns of settlement interaction in the absence of direct evidence is an important consideration in regionally oriented archaeological inquiry. In the following study we introduce the concepts of alternative spaces, and transformed map representations of these spaces, as possible approaches to this problem. The southern Basin of Mexico is examined as a particular case in point, with settlement pattern maps developed in travel time space for the Late Formative through Late Toltec occupations in this region. Through arranging sites in terms of their accessibility to one another, such maps provide a foundation for systematically proposing groups of interacting settlements in each time period examined. The proposed patterns of spatial affiliation are used to explore the role of information processing in the sociopolitical evolution of the southern basin.