Research by Martín Giesso (2000;2003) on the Tiwanaku lithic industry has revealed patterns in the differential use of lithic material in the region. First, it should be noted that obsidian is not abundant in the Tiwanaku core area in terms of the capital of the expansive state. Giesso (2003: 365-366) notes that obsidian artifacts make up only 0.8% of the lithics by count (n=86), of the collections at Tiwanaku. Yet the Tiwanaku core lies 315 km from the Chivay source in Euclidean distance, or 70 hours by the hiking function and therefore while obsidian is relatively scarce, it has been conveyed a considerable distance. The spatial distribution and the artifact form of obsidian at Tiwanaku are more analytically relevant than the total count or weight of obsidian which was quite small. Intrasite data on the contrasts in temporal and spatial use of obsidian at Tiwanaku are critical because, among other things, these data would provide a gauge of the relative persistence of access to the Chivay source as Tiwanaku's regional influence expanded.

Giesso's comprehensive source sampling showed that ten different types of obsidian were in use in the Tiwanaku heartland, although of these ten samples only four samples derive from known source locations. He notes that of the ten obsidian types, only Chivay (Cotallaulli) type is transparent and rest are described as "opaque". Giesso's spatial assessment of the distribution of lithic production activities in the core region showed that obsidian microdebitage was concentrated at certain mounds and in residential sectors as compared with chert, quartzite, and other locally available products. Giesso also organized a sourcing study of basalt artifacts in the Tiwanaku area, and he examined the contexts of production at the Querimita quarry located on the southwestern shores of Lake Poopó in Bolivia (Giesso 2003: 369) just over 300 km south of Tiwanaku. The evidence from Querimita on the production and consumption of basalt provides an interesting regional contrast to the spatial patterning of Chivay obsidian. There are both Wankarani (Formative) and Tiwanaku sites in the vicinity of the Querimita basalt source in the direction of the shores of Lake Poopó, but diagnostic Tiwanaku materials at the quarry itself are not reported (M. Giesso 2006, pers. comm.).

At Tiwanaku, quantities of obsidian and quartz have been found in the construction fill at the ceremonial Mollo Kontu mound, a structure that has served as a local fertility shrine. Nicole Couture argues that "quartz and obsidian fragments also served as mountain icons, in the way that exotic crystals, minerals, and rock candies are used today by Aymara yatiris, or ritual specialists, to represent mountains and thunder in rites to promote agricultural and social fertility" (Couture 2003: 225). Obsidian from Mollo Kontu has been traced to six different sources: Quispisisa, Chivay, Sora Sora, Cerro Zapaleri, and two unlocated sources (Giesso 2000). "The high density of quartz and obsidian artifacts, often five to ten pieces per excavation level, indicates that they were not accidentally included as part of redeposited rubbish, but rather were deliberately added to the clay fill" (Couture 2003: 215). The diversity in the Tiwanaku urban core was such that Chivay material represented a relatively low percentage (76%) of the material, although the ratio of Chivay material in Giesso and Glascock's study on the whole was 90% Chivay, which is typical for the Titicaca Basin. Interestingly, Giesso found that the 19 obsidian samples from the Akapana and Putuni were all transparent samples from the Chivay source, a pattern supported by the ceramics assemblage from those sites that was entirely local. This pattern suggests to Giesso (2003: 368) that a cultural strategy of "ideological purity" was taking place at that location at Tiwanaku due to exclusive use of those particular materials that are perceived as "local" to the Titicaca Basin. Giesso notes that obsidian is found in the form of standardized projectile points, type 4E according to Klink and Aldenderfer (2005), and that evidence of production is found in commoner residential contexts, whereas finished points are often associated with elite ritual contexts. This suggests to Giesso that labor contributions for some segment of the Tiwanaku heartland commoner population may have taken the form of projectile point manufacture.

A comparison of the circulation and use of Chivay obsidian with Querimita basalt strongly suggests to Giesso that the source areas, production, and transport of both exotic materials were controlled by the Tiwanaku state. If so, research at the Chivay source should reveal some evidence of Tiwanaku materials as it did at Querimita, and perhaps research will reveal state mandated standardization of production activities. However, if no evidence of Tiwanaku presence is found at the Chivay source, then this suggests that the relationship between raw material procurement, long distance transport, and state sponsored activities involved a more nuanced relationship between the state and the peripheral economy.

Burger et al. (2000) also analyzed obsidian from Tiwanaku and in their study, from a collection of 18 samples, all from surface contexts, the results were all of the Chivay type. The original Burger and Asaro (1977) study of Bolivian obsidian revealed that three samples purportly from the site of "Sora Sora" were from the Titicaca Basin source, now known as the Chivay source. At 554 km from the Colca Valley this is the furthest reported transport of Chivay type obsidian to date. However, some doubts have arisen as to the spatial origin of these three samples supposedly from the site of Sora Sora (Burger, Dec 2006, pers. comm.), and given the anomalously high transport distance, these three samples are suspect unless additional supporting data become available. The second furthest reported conveyance of Chivay obsidian is 325 km to the Late Formative contexts of Kallamarka and to Khonkho Wankane in Bolivia, as mentioned above.