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4.0 General Research Problems. Research problems that cross-cut the culture units discussed above are herein considered. 4.1 Dearth of ex cav atiun data. Many of the r,:; ea rch problems dis- cussed elsewhere in this manuscript stem from the paucity of excavated data. Only 65 sites have had an area of five square meters or more ex- posed in professional excavation. Of that total, 41 were excavated in the early 1960s or earlier. Of the 24 sites excavated in the 1970s and 1980s, eight have reports in preparation and one appears unlikely to ever have a report written for it. The excavations that have been com- pleted and described in literature have generally been of good quality, and have spawned many research questions. New, problem-oriented excava- tion projects are needed to address these research questions. 4.2 Chronology. Largely as a result of the dearth of excavation data, the chronology of the culture sequence in the region needs refinement. At present only eight tree-ring dates and 56 radiocarbon dates have been processed. Cunsi.dering that the region may have been occupied in excess of 10,000 years, the data base is indeed small. Appendix A presents the chronometric dates obtained in the region. Those dates in~pa renthesis have been calculated by this writer to facilitate comparability. In scme cases these represent dates that have been adjusted with the aid of MASCA correction factors (Michels 1973) to allow far atmospheric fluc- tuations in L14 content. In other cases the pa renthetlcal date repre- sents a B.P. date, calculated to permit use of a calibrated date range, which gives the range in which there is a 95 percent probability that the true calendar date is represented (Klein et al. 1982). As the number of chronometric dates in the region grows, refinement of a regionally-specific projectile point sequence will be possible. 4.3 Settlement Patterns. Addit[pnal archaeological survey is needed 1n order to better understand prehistoric settlement patterhs. -Fea'-" sample-oriented surveys whose objectives concern site prediction have been implemented in the region. Of these,.most were completed several years ago and no longer represent the state-of-the-art predictive model- ing, Newer techniques, often employing discriminant analysis to differ- entiate.site frem nonsite locations, have been successfully employed 1n certain portions of western Colorado (Burgess et al. 1980; Kenneth Kvamme, personal communication) and show great promise for the entire region. Past Inventories of large scale have also tended to avoid certain geographical areas, such as major valley bottoms and high elevations, due to land ownership and location of resource developments. A sample-oriented inventory cross-cutting all major environmental/ele- vational zones in the region would be desirable. 4.4 Cultural process. To determine the cultural processes responsible for the patterns of prehistoric change and continuity, additional syn- chronic and dtach ron is research into past lifeways is needed. Research topics include analysis of settlement and subsistence patterns, technol- ogy, demography, and social organization. 4.5 Demography. Very few aboriginal burials have been discovered in West-Cqn U'al Colorado, and of these, only three have apparently been ade- quately analyzed. Two were dug by ania teu rs at SMN23, and were analyzed by a member of the Ute Prehistory Project (Buckles 1971:1040), and one was excavated in Glade Park and was analyzed by Woodbury (1930). 4.6 Site significance. Evaluation of prehistoric site significance usually concerns the potential of a site to yield important scientific information. This is no easy task, since sites are frequently evaluated without the aid of subsurface exploration. Further, it can be argued that all sites may potentially yield important data; to understands hunting and gathering subsistence system, for example, it is just as necessary to know the nature and distribution of limited activity sites as it is the more toniplex habitation sites. Nonetheless, a franiewo rk for identifying particularly important sites can be developed, which reflects some of the research problems identified in this manuscript. -9-