Andean traditions place a priority on visual attributes, and links between the visual purity of a material and its essence have been widely noted in some segments of the Andean literature. As a natural glass, the aqueous properties of obsidian cause the material to reflect light which may display the workmanship of obsidian artifacts, as well as the potential sharpness of obsidian tools. Obsidian used for prehistoric tool production was often a homogeneous glass that was visibly consistent, pure in color, and sometimes transparent or banded. The importance of visual qualities of metals in the Andes has received greater attention:

The social arena in which metallurgy received its greatest stimulus in the Andes was the arena dominated by status and political display. An underlying cultural value system that appears to have strongly influenced the visual manifestation of status and power was a color symbolism oriented around the colors of silver and of gold. The most innovative and interesting aspects of Andean metallurgy arose from attempts by Andean metalsmiths to produce metallic gold and metallic silver surfaces on metal objects that were made of neither metal (Lechtman 1984: 15).

In Andean metallurgy, the appearance of consistency in color, reflectivity and material was prioritized because visual characteristics conveyed information about the inherent essence and animation of the object (Lechtman 1984: 33-36).

There is little direct support in Andean archaeological or ethnohistorical sources for inference regarding how obsidian was perceived, but it would be consistent for obsidian, a stone with the appearance of watery luster, to be associated with ceremonial power and ritual sacrifice given the well-demonstrated importance of stone and water in Andean cosmology.