An initial review of all field collections was performed as a distinct phase of lab work. While this phase of lab work is preferably performed during or immediately after fieldwork, this was delayed due to a lack of lab facilities in the Colca valley in 2003 and the time constraints of quarry area research.

Phase I lab work consisted of reviewing all items from fieldwork and standardizing the tag and bag structure in the collections. Lithics and ceramics collections were entered into an MS Access database using forms designed for this purpose. Lot numbers were assigned to the excavated collections based on a link between the spatial provenience and the database unique ID#, as described in the Proveniencing discussion above. Most collections were counted, although due to time constraints some collections (those with many small artifacts) were not counted. Additionally, all collections, including lithics, ceramics, bone, and other miscellaneous collections were weighed in their aggregate (by spatial provenience) using a lab scale with 1 gram accuracy. While the weight of ceramic and bone is not typically a meaningful measure, it is nevertheless useful measure of relative size per provenience for collections management, and weight serves as an expedient proxy for counting in large collections.

During Phase I lab work obsidian and "non-obsidian" lithics were segregated as this distinction reflected the priorities of the obsidian source research. In order to be more expedient during Phase I the non-obsidian materials were not sorted by material type although performing this sorting is a priority for future lab work.