Linear nearest neighbor analysis is reconsidered and revised. This statistical method facilitates decisions about whether points along a line are clustered, random, or dispersed. One of ita poaaible archaeological aplications is illustrated using a set of probable housemounds along the Cabeza de la Cava Arroyo in Veracruz, Mexico. The mounds are in a despersed pattern. Ecological and subsistence factors offer one promising explnation for the pattern.