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Table 6.22. Nearest neighbor analysis for habitation sites on Chacra Mesa.

No. of Habitation Sitesa Average Distance (meters) Expected Distance (meters) Rb
1700-1863 12 260 555.56 .468
1868-1930 16 233.25 476.19 .490
1930-1980 8 391.5 714.28 .548
The total area of the Chacra Mesa addition is 13.456 km2 or 5.20mi2.

aEdge effect was corrected by excluding any habitation site located nearer to the boundary of the survey area than it was to another habitation site.

bR may range from 0 to 2.1491. A value of 1.0 is the expected or random distribution, where every point is equidistant from every other point. Under conditions of maximum aggregation or clustering, R=0, since all points occupy the same locus. Under conditions of maximum spacing between points, R=2.1491, and the points form an even, hexagonal pattern. As emphasized by Clark and Evans (1954: 447), “in any given distribution, the mean observed distance to nearest neighbor is R times as great as would be expected in a random distribution of the same density. Thus, an R value of 0.5 would indicate that nearest neighbors are, on the average half as far apart as expected under conditions of randomness.”