Paleoclimatic studies have documented a decline in abundance of arboreal species in the Lake Titicaca Basin and an increase in open-ground weed species reflecting disturbed soils after ca. 1150 cal BCE(Paduano, et al. 2003: 274). This has been interpreted as reflecting intensification in food production and population that occurred during the Early Formative. Some argue that the grasslands of the altiplano are an anthropogenic artifact of a human induced lowering of the treeline due in part to the expansion of camelid pastoralism(Gade 1999: 42-74). The increasing sedentism, cultivated plants, expanding camelid herds and the growing influence of prominent settlements like Qaluyu in regional organization signify that significant socio-economic dynamism was underway by this period. The evidence of hierarchy takes the form of "very moderate social rank" acquired by certain individuals, such as religious specialists(Stanish 2003: 108). These traits are first suggested by jewelry, grave goods, and non-residential structures in the Terminal Archaic, but they become further elaborated during the Early Formative after 2000 BCE.

There is no evidence of political ranking in the structure of settlement distributions between Early Formative sites in the Lake Titicaca Basin, and all the sites are less than one hectare in size(Stanish 2003: 108), but the evidence of obsidian circulation from Qillqatani and other pastoral sites suggests of regional exchange system not yet focused around Lake Titicaca. Evidence acquired from the earliest occupational levels at Titicaca Basin regional centers suggest that regional interaction was low. At the site of Chiripa, in the southern Lake Titicaca Basin, Matthew Bandy describes traces of sodalite beads, obsidian, and sea shell in excavations from Early and Middle Formative contexts.

It is clear, then, that long distance trade in mortuary and prestige items took place as early as the Early Chiripa phase [1500-1000 BCE]. Equally clear, however, is that this early exchange involved very small quantities of the objects in question. This trading would seem to have been very sporadic and infrequent. There is no evidence in the Early Formative Period for the sort of regular caravan trade postulated by Browman (his "altiplano mode"; see Browman 1981: 414-415) (Bandy 2001: 141).

However, the evidence for obsidian distributions at Qillqatani that are discussed here point to routine exchange, perhaps by caravan trade, along on the Western Cordillera in the Early Formative. It appears that future regional centers like Chiripa were not yet participants in these exchange networks.

The dynamic nature of interregional interaction that occurred during the Early Formative is evident from the diversity in obsidian types at sites, and the lack of geographical restrictions that appear to structure exchange during later periods. While settled communities were evident, the lack of hierarchy and centralization suggests that they were not integrated by supra-local organization. Yet the economic basis for long distance relationships appears to have taken form by the Early Formative. The decentralized and variable nature of exchange in this period, which is abundantly evident at Qillqatani and yet not evident at sites like Chiripa, implies that another form of integration was linking communities, like the residents of Qillqatani, with the Chivay source 221 km to the north-west.