• Where can ecologically favored zones are identified? Are they possible nuclei and crystallization points of cultural-historical developments?
• How are the relations between (rather linear) macro-communication and (rather network shaped) micro-communication? Are there material remains of historical traffic networks where long ranged travel (like caravan trade) and short ranged travel (like in pastoral or transhumant economical concepts) can be differentiated from each other?
• Can any identified macro-communication patterns be connected to interregional technology transfer? This concerns especially the question of mutual influence or independent development of iron smelting technologies in the Meroitic and the West-African (or Chad basin) cultures.
• To what extend cultural connections between Northern Kordofan, especially the Jebel al-Ain region, and the Nile valley document a political and administrative control of this periphery by the organized Nile-based states? Are there any differentiations concerning this question between the Iron Age and the medieval Nubian states?

For the Iron Age, investigations of water harvesting installations (hafirs) which closely resemble similar constructions in the Keraba can contribute to a clarification, since their possible role as instruments of central political control over the Keraba is debated controversially. For the medieval period, investigations of the Christian complex can provide information about the extent of direct influence of Christian dominated statehood on that desert region.