  We present Submillimeter Array (SMA) $\lambda =$ 0.88 and 1.3 mm broad band
observations, and the Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) observations in $\rm{NH_3}$
$(J,K) = (1,1)$ up to $(5,5)$, $\rm{H_2O}$ and $\rm{CH_3OH}$ maser lines toward
the two most massive molecular clumps in infrared dark cloud (IRDC)
G11.11-0.12. Sensitive high-resolution images reveal hierarchical fragmentation
in dense molecular gas from the $\sim 1$ pc clump scale down to $\sim 0.01$ pc
condensation scale. At each scale, the mass of the fragments is orders of
magnitude larger than the Jeans mass. This is common to all four IRDC clumps we
studied, suggesting that turbulence plays an important role in the early stages
of clustered star formation. Masers, shock heated $\rm{NH_3}$ gas, and outflows
indicate intense ongoing star formation in some cores while no such signatures
are found in others. Furthermore, chemical differentiation may reflect the
difference in evolutionary stages among these star formation seeds. We find
$\rm{NH_3}$ ortho/para ratios of $1.1\pm0.4$, $2.0\pm0.4$, and $3.0\pm0.7$
associated with three outflows, and the ratio tends to increase along the
outflows downstream. Our combined SMA and VLA observations of several IRDC
clumps present the most in depth view so far of the early stages prior to the
hot core phase, revealing snapshots of physical and chemical properties at
various stages along an apparent evolutionary sequence.
