The following questions will guide research efforts for cultural properties allocated to Scientific Use. Information derived from research efforts will be used in public outreach activities and for interpreting properties allocated to Public Use.

The Earliest Periods-The Paleo-Indian and Archaic Traditions

• When did humans first settle in what is now Arizona?

• Is there evidence of pre-Clovis occupations in any areas of the State?

• Is there evidence that Paleo-Indian sites similar to those in southeastern Arizona exist in other areas of the State? Did people in those areas rely to a lesser degree on the hunting of megafauna?

• Is there any evidence from lithic and faunal studies that people were scavengers of mammoth, and hunters of bison and other species?

• What faunal and floral resources were present, and which were exploited, during the Paleo-Indian and Archaic periods? How significant were plant resources in the Paleo-Indian diet? Was the subsistence strategy generalized or specialized?

• What climatic changes took place at the end of the Pleistocene and during the early Holocene period? How did these changes affect the extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna and the transition to the Archaic tradition? Was there an extremely dry period (i.e., the Altithermal) that contributed to regional abandonments or variations in settlement systems during the early or middle Archaic periods?

• Do any areas of the state exhibit a hiatus between Paleo-Indian and Archaic occupations? Were some areas initially occupied during the Archaic period in response to population increases or changes in subsistence strategies?

• Do traditional distinctions among Archaic groups (Amargosa, Basketmaker, San Jose, Cochise) clearly correlate with distinctive settlement and social systems? Are other classifications more useful than these traditional geographic ones?

• How did Archaic subsistence and settlement systems vary through time and space? How were variations related to environmental, demographic and technological factors? Did all groups exploit a wide range of food resources, or did some groups practice more selective consumption patterns? Did most groups follow the mobile lifestyle of a seasonal round, or were some groups less mobile in response to favorable resource conditions?

• Do projectile point styles and chronologies developed in the Great Basin apply to areas in Arizona? What does the widespread distribution of point styles reveal about mobility, trade, and social relations among Archaic groups?

• When did such significant technological innovations as ceramics, the bow and arrow, and water control systems first come into use in different regions?

• When did specific cultigens such as maize, beans and cotton, make their initial appearance in different regions?

• What environmental, technological, demographic, and social factors influenced the adoption of farming? What roles did trade, migrations and Mesoamerican influence play in these processes?

• Did the various regions of the Southwest adapt to horticulture differently and if so, what factors influenced these differences? Why was farming adopted at different times, and with varying degrees of reliance, in different regions of Arizona? Did this process involve an in-situ Archaic-to-Formative transition, or did farmers migrate into new areas? Why did agriculture remain a relatively minor subsistence pursuit for so long in some areas?

• Did groups of horticulturists and hunter-gatherers co-exist during the late Archaic and Formative periods, and if so, were their subsistence systems symbiotic?

The Formative and Puebloan Periods

• What are the chronological periods, developmental phases, and regional variants of the ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi), Mogollon, Hohokam, Patayan, Sinagua, Cohonina, Prescott, and Salado/Western Pueblo traditions and cultures? What dating methods and diagnostic artifacts are associated with these divisions? How should we interpret overlapping distributions of diagnostic traits?

• What are the origins of these traditions and what were their relationships, if any, with Late Archaic indigenous peoples? Did trade, migrations, or other influences from Mesoamerica affect the development of the Formative period traditions?

• What was the nature of the subsistence and settlement systems associated with various traditions, and how and why did they vary through time? What was the nature and geographic distribution of agricultural techniques and systems, such as canal irrigation and agave farming in rock fields?

• How did changes in economic and social systems relate to demographic changes (population increases or declines, migrations, diseases, etc.)?

• What artifacts and items are most indicative of trade? From where, in what volume, and to whom were they traded? Can trade networks be identified? What role did specialized production and distribution play in specific areas (for example, the shell trade and the production of grinding implements)?

• What was the nature of social and economic relations among groups within and between geographic regions? Where and when did these relations involve exchange, migrations, kinship, political dominance and conflict? What economic, social and political factors figured in these interactions?

• What was the nature and structure of communication systems? Can these systems be reconstructed through the definition of regional networks of hilltop sites?

• Did the incidence of warfare increase in the late prehistoric period? Is evidence of cannibalism confined to the ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) people?

• How did groups in Arizona interact with populations in the Great Basin, the Fremont area, Mexico and other distant regions? For example, what was the nature of the interaction between the Mimbres and the San Simon branch of the Mogollon in the San Simon and Safford valleys?

• Is there evidence of road or trail systems similar to those found in southeastern Utah and northern New Mexico?

• Where and why were there increases in political complexity? Did hierarchical social systems develop and did they dominate other societies?

• How did architecture change through time? What was the timing and basis of the pithouse-to-pueblo transition? Why did some areas retain the pithouse throughout the Formative Period (Virgin Anasazi, for example) and never entirely make the shift to above-ground pueblos?

• Can we define the development and spread of religious traditions such as those associated with Kachinas or, possibly, ball courts? How are these traditions linked to those in Mesoamerica?

• Can we define the development and spread of artistic styles in rock art during the Archaic and Formative periods? If so, can these styles be used to define territorial boundaries or other aspects of social interaction such as trade corridors or shared areas?

• During the late Formative period, where and why did many groups aggregate into larger settlements and abandon such areas as valleys in favor of the uplands?

• Which areas were abandoned, and in what sequence, at the end of the prehistoric period? What were the underlying economic, social and demographic factors? Were some areas not abandoned, but instead witnessed a change in subsistence and settlement systems?

• What was the nature of the Kayenta Anasazi migration into southeastern Arizona, and what archaeological sites represent this migration?

The Protohistoric and Historic Periods

• When did the Apache, Navajo and Southern Paiute enter Arizona? Where did they initially settle, and where and when did their populations move into other areas? Did they settle in areas that were still occupied by other groups? How did they interact with the resident ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi), Mogollon and other groups?

• What are the relationships between prehistoric groups and modern tribes, e.g., how were the Sobaipuri related to the Hohokam and Pimans in the Cienega Creek drainage?

• How did the Native groups use the landscapes of the Southwest and in what manner did they manipulate the environment? What are the similarities and differences between pre-contact and historic period subsistence strategies?

• Has the degree of reliance on agriculture been misinterpreted because conquest and the loss of water sources forced groups to revert to less intensive subsistence practices?

• In addition to conquest, how did contact with non-Indian groups affect Native Americans? How were their subsistence, settlement and social systems affected by the adoption of new tools, materials, crops and wage labor?

• Were certain areas used as refuges during the U.S. Army conquest, or to protect people and resources during raids from other tribes (for example, during Ute and Navajo raids on the Southern Paiute or Apache raids on the O'odham)? Were there places of refuge on the landscape in which small groups existed for many years outside the dominant Euro-American culture?

• What kinds of environmental changes have occurred during historic times on the landscapes of the public lands? What caused these changes, and what evidence exists to show how they affected, and were affected by, human activities and communities?

• What roles did livestock grazing and timber cutting play in environmental changes and in the economy of the early Spanish and American settlements?

• How was Native American social fabric altered when the mission system was instituted? How did the establishment of missions and presidios, and the introduction of new crops and livestock, affect settlement patterns, subsistence strategies and cultural traditions?

• Is there evidence remaining of Spanish sites, other than presidios, along the early trails used by soldiers, priests and other explorers? Are there associated rock art features?

• What can the study of archaeological sites, in conjunction with archival research, reveal about the lives of Spanish, Mexican and Euro-American soldiers and settlers in frontier outposts?

• What role did Native Americans play in aiding the Euro-American and Mexican settlers and the military?

• Is there any archaeological evidence related to the forcible resettlement of tribal groups, temporarily at military camps or forts, or more permanently on reservations?

• How did the Mormon settlement of Utah and Arizona affect the native groups and what was the native groups' response? Was their response different from that of other Euro-American groups?

• Is there archaeological evidence to distinguish associated sites and differences in the use of long-distance trails by the military, settlers and commercial interests?

• How did the function of each stagecoach station and stop differ, one from the other? What features could one expect at each place as a result of the types of activities associated with these functions? Was there variation or conformity among the stations and stops?

• How did the coming of the railroad affect patterns of settlement and rural economies? How did sidings, camps, spurs and other associated sites function in relation to the railroads and surrounding sites?

• Is there evidence remaining of any of the earliest communications systems in Arizona, like the heliograph and telegraph systems? What associated sites and features would one expect to identify?

• What can different types of archaeological sites reveal about the environmental, economic and social history of livestock ranching?

• What can different types of archaeological sites reveal about the environmental effects and the economic, technological and social history of mining? When and where did gold, silver and copper mining contribute to the growth of communities and supporting activities such as ranching? How did the construction of the railroad and other transportation systems contribute to the development of the mining industry?

• What can the study of abandoned mining camps and ghost towns reveal about the everyday lives of miners and their families? Can archaeological evidence be used to understand the causes and effects of boom and bust cycles?

• How can archaeological studies illuminate the history and lifeways of the various ethnic and social groups who migrated to Arizona? These groups, among others, included African-American buffalo soldiers, Chinese railroad builders, Basque sheepherders, Mormon settlers, Mexican farmers and Welsh miners. What were their contributions to economic development and the establishment and growth of communities?

• What role did the homestead laws play in the local histories, and how did they influence the communities and landscapes of today?

• How did homesteading affect land use in the desert areas as compared to other physiographic situations? What functional and spatial patterns, including attempts at irrigation agriculture, can be observed among homesteads in the more arid regions? Is there similar variation in other regions?

• Did fraudulent homestead filings occur in areas other than the deserts of western Arizona?

• What information can archaeological sites reveal about the hardships of life during the Great Depression of the 1930s? How did resources on the public lands contribute to family survival, for example, in the form of small-scale gold mining or other pursuits?

• In what ways did the Civilian Conservation Corps change the landscape, and how did the presence of the workers and the results of their projects affect the local communities? What are the nature, extent and long-term effects of Civilian Conservation Corps erosion control features in southeastern Arizona and other areas?

• What twentieth century activities, as diverse as dude ranching, retirement living and astronomical research, are represented in archaeological sites on the public lands?

• What can archaeological sites reveal about military activities during the World War II era, such as military training and the operation of Japanese-American internment camps?

• How can oral histories be used to understand the past and to promote community involvement in the preservation and interpretation of sites like historic Fairbank?