DEES scientists conduct a wide variety of archaeological research in regions ranging from the arid Southwestern U.S. to China. The research ranges from studies of earlier civilizations to studies focused on the preservation of historic legacies from recent events such as nuclear testing at the Nevada National Security Site (formerly, the Nevada Test Site). DEES archaeologists are conducting historic artifact inventories with federal agencies to facilitate stewardship decisions as they appropriate lands for specific uses. These land uses include military training, construction of power lines and prospecting and development for renewable energy projects including solar, wind and geothermal. Archaeologists at DRI make use of modern techniques including ground penetrating radar (GPR) and light detection and ranging (LiDAR), often in combination with geographic information systems (GIS) and specialized laboratories equipped with traditional light and electron microscopes.

DEES research projects related to "Archaeology and Anthropology" are listed below.

• Yuma Proving Ground Cultural Resources (Rhode)
• Cooperative Agreement between US Army Environmental Center and the Desert Research Institute for Cultural Resources Services (Rhode)
• A Class III Cultural Resource Inventory of the Kathy Drop Zone, Dugway Proving Ground, Tooele County, Utah (Rhode, Page)
• LandPro Army Landscape Dynamics Support Program (Bullard)
• Lincoln County Powerline survey (Edwards)
• Lincoln County Archaeological Initiative (Beck)
• North Creek Shelter (Rhode)
• Remote Sensing to Aid in the Search of Prehistoric Anasazi Agricultural Fields and Seasonal Dwellings in NW Arizona (Buck)
• Using dogs to detect human remains in arid lands (Cablk, Holz, Lander)
• Archaeological and Paleoenvironmental Research on the Northeast Tibetan Plateau (Rhode)
• Luminescence Sediment Dating of Pleistocene Hominin and Tool Sites at Atapuerca, Spain (Berger)
• Luminescence chronology of pre-contact irrigation systems in Arizona (Berger)