The nearest neighbor statistic is useful for testing hypotheses regarding the clustering, randomness, or uniformity of spatial distributions. In this application, the statistic is used to assess the adequacy of a sample of separate cultural resources surveys to represent unsurveyed areas on Pahute and Rainier mesas, Nevada. We argue that samples, not always collected for research concerns, may be analyzed using the nearest neighbor statistic in order to determine their usefulness as a research data set.