Episodes of intensified production were apparent in test excavation units at both the quarry pit and the workshop. At the quarry pit, the upper most levels (2 and 3) of the test unit showed evidence of concentrated activity, and because this test unit was in a debris pile, the strata are reversed so that levels 2 and 3 are the result of some of the deepest quarrying work at the quarry pit. In level 2a a number of discarded obsidian nodules were encountered measuring approximately 7 cm in length, and the thickness and angle of these strata indicated that quarrying was active and was resulting in a build-up in the discard zone. The low quantities of bifacial retouch or culturally-flaked stone of any kind in these upper levels at Q02-2u2 suggests that during the final episodes of excavation at the quarry it was purely whole nodules that were being extracted and transported away.
At the Q02-2u3 workshop, down the slope, intensified production was most apparent in levels 5 and 4 with evidence of the availability of larger cores taking the form of the discard of large cores and cortical flakes. These levels are interpreted as representing greater regularity in reduction strategies because they were thicker levels and production was more abundant, yet artifact morphology and variability was consistently low. In level 5, evidence was encountered that suggests that some proportion of cores were being transported away while others, even relatively large cores, were discarded at the workshop. In level 4, a similar strategy was in place, where it appears that medium and large cores with certain desirable characteristics were exported after some reduction, and some large flake blanks were also exported, but a fairly large percentage of cores and large flakes were discarded, suggesting that there was an abundance of material. Level 4 was thicker than other natural levels and it showed distinct evidence of abundance in large nodules, and relatively wasteful production, with large cores being sampled and discarded, along with the discard of large flakes. The presence of Kombewa flakes in levels 4 and 5, a flake-as-core technique, suggests that some variability in knapping strategies was practiced.
These characteristics changed dramatically in level 3 when discarded cores and flakes became much smaller and more advanced reduction seemed to have been occurring. The number of retouched flakes drops significantly, but concurrently the number of broken bifaces increased to thirteen, indicating that some advanced reduction was occurring. Activities in level 3 are distinct from all other levels and difficult to characterize because they seem contradictory. On the one hand, reduction strategies were more variable as some advanced reduction was occurring and heavy rotation and conservation of cores was taking place; while on the other hand, there were relatively large cores (cluster #3 type cores) being discarded as well as some cortical flakes in the level 3 assemblage. The peculiar pattern detected in level 3 may be due to a combination of a return to more local and variable production, combined with scavenging from the richness of the discarded material in the previous occupation level. By the ensuing level, level 2, the assemblage appears to have continued the pattern of variable reduction strategies but with lessened access to large nodules. In sum, the evidence from intensification at the quarry and the workshop suggests that workshop reduction began in the Terminal Archaic, quarry excavation and workshop production intensified and became more regular during the Early Formative, and ultimately during the final levels workshop activities returned to more haphazard localized production.