Evidence of human use of the Chivay Source beginning in the Early Archaic Period comes from survey work adjacent to the source and from excavations at the site of Asana, 200 km away in Moquegua. As will be discussed in Chapter 7, during the course of survey work in the area of the Chivay source in 2003 the Upper Colca team collected several dozen Early Archaic type projectile points, the majority of them made from obsidian. Evidence for the regional consumption of Chivay obsidian begins with the site ofXAsanaXthat were described earlier in SectionX3.4.1XandXTable 3-4X. Aldenderfer(1998: 157, 163;2000: 383-384)encountered small quantities of obsidian in two levels belonging to the Asana II/Khituña Phase, placing them in the Early Archaic Period. In level PXXIX just one obsidian flake from Chivay was identified in an assemblage consisting of 1,152 lithic artifacts weighing 746 g. This level could not be dated directly, but it is assessed at 9400 uncal bp as it lies stratigraphically above a14C sample from level XXXIII dating to 9820±15014C yr bp (Beta-40063; 10,000-8700 BCE).
Obsidian from Chivay appeared in greater quantity in level PXXIV where eleven flakes of Chivay obsidian made up 0.36% of the lithic assemblage by count. These flakes were all small tertariary flakes, chunks, and shatter, suggesting to Aldenderfer(1998: 163)that a bifacial core of Chivay material was reduced on site. A14C sample from level PXXIV dated to 8720±120 bp (Beta-35599; 8250-7550 BCE). The Khituña phase has been interpreted by Aldenderfer(1998: 172-173)as representing a residential base in the high sierra and the beginnings of permanent settlement above 2500m in elevation. This interpretation is based on the presence of high sierra and puna lithic raw materials, but no coastal materials.
In surface contexts in the Ilave valley, surveys directed by Aldenderfer(1997)located three obsidian projectile points in forms that are possibly diagnostic to the Early and Early-Middle Archaic transitional period (types 1A, 3A, 3B). These three points were analyzed using a portable XRF unit in 2005 and all three were found to be of the Chivay type(Craig and Aldenderfer In Press).