Social hierarchy is the most prominent framework scholars use to examine settlement structure and development in Southeast Asia's pre- and post-state eras. The concept of social heterarchy, an unfixed ranked and diversified form of social structure, is an alternative approach to examining the sociopolitical organization of early settlements in the region. However, applications of heterarchy are limited in archaeological research on the sociopolitical organization and social landscape in Southeast Asian state societies. This paper incorporates space syntax and GIS angular and viewshed analyses to understand how sociopolitical interactions were arranged through the spatial configurations of the historical Buddhist temples in Chiang Saen, Thailand. This paper explores the complex interactions between various historical Chiang Saen social and religious groups through their temple spaces across time. Temple spatial characteristics indicate heterarchical forms of organization—evidenced by the hybrid and nonhierarchical temple spatial patterns characterized by open accessibility and integrated and symmetrical organization of spaces—co-existed with hierarchical relationships from the 13th to 17th century. The approach discussed here provides a better understanding of the multiscale relationships and interactions among sociopolitical groups in the historical communities in Chiang Saen, enabling a broader view that can embrace the co-occurrence of hierarchical and heterarchical forms of governance.

社会等级制度是学者们用来研究东南亚前国家时代和后国家时代的聚落结构和发展的最突出的框架。社会异质性的概念是一种不固定等级和多样化的社会结构形式，是研究该地区早期定居点社会政治组织的另一种方法。然而，在东南亚国家社会的社会政治组织和社会景观的考古研究中，异质性的应用受到限制。本文结合空间句法和 GIS 角度和视域分析，以了解社会政治互动是如何通过泰国清盛历史悠久的佛教寺庙的空间配置来安排的。本文探讨了清盛历史上各种社会和宗教团体之间通过寺庙空间跨时间复杂的互动。寺庙空间特征表明组织的异质形式——由混合和非等级的寺庙空间模式证明，其特征是开放的可达性和空间的集成和对称组织——在 13 至 17 世纪与等级关系共存。此处讨论的方法可以更好地理解清盛历史社区中社会政治群体之间的多尺度关系和相互作用，从而提供更广阔的视野，可以包含同时存在的等级和异质治理形式。寺庙空间特征表明组织的异质形式——由混合和非等级的寺庙空间模式证明，其特征是开放的可达性和空间的集成和对称组织——在 13 至 17 世纪与等级关系共存。此处讨论的方法可以更好地理解清盛历史社区中社会政治群体之间的多尺度关系和相互作用，从而提供更广阔的视野，可以包含同时存在的等级和异质治理形式。寺庙空间特征表明组织的异质形式——由混合和非等级的寺庙空间模式证明，其特征是开放的可达性和空间的集成和对称组织——在 13 至 17 世纪与等级关系共存。此处讨论的方法可以更好地理解清盛历史社区中社会政治群体之间的多尺度关系和相互作用，从而提供更广阔的视野，可以包含同时存在的等级和异质治理形式。