During the lengthy Forager period there were a number of gradual changes that may be observed in obsidian procurement and circulation. Obsidian appears to have been procured directly from the Maymeja area since at least the Middle Archaic. Evidence from the dating of a glacial moraine, and from obsidian consumption at the distant site of Asana, suggests that the Maymeja area itself was glaciated until approximately 9000 cal BCE.

The Ob1 material (obsidian free of heterogeneities) appears to have been used preferentially for tool production over the Ob2 material (obsidian with heterogeneities) throughout the Forager period, as was true in later times. During the Late Archaic, obsidian use for projectile point production declined and points were chiefly made from fine-grained volcanic stone, such as the andesite material common in Block 2.

Establishing the degree of embeddedness of obsidian procurement during particular periods of the Archaic Forager time frame is not a straightforward task. If evidence of advanced reduction stages is taken as a sign of more embedded procurement, then the evidence for advanced reduction comes in several forms.

(1) There was a greater proportion of diagnostic points identified for series 1-4 points than series 5 points in Block 1.

(2) Most of the diagnostic points identified in the Block 1 area are incompletely flaked and were broken longitudinally as would occur during production.

(3) The bases of latitudinally snapped, non-obsidian projectile points were encountered that appeared to have been discarded in the Maymeja area. The implication is that as the hafts were reused for newly-made obsidian projectile points, the broken bases were discarded from hafts that were being retained.

Embedded procurement may have taken the form of blank production with later advanced reduction occurring in adjacent blocks, such as Block 2 that contains stronger evidence of Archaic residential occupation.

Elsewhere in the study region more distinct site size differences are apparent during the Archaic Foragers period. Operating within the confines of surface survey information, sites were differentiated into residential bases and small logistical sites based primarily on lithic artifact density and diversity, shelter opportunities, and other site features. Archaic occupation in the high puna area of Block 2 appears to have been more long-term. Dense scatters, and variability in lithic materials were encountered, along with identifiable series 1-4 projectile points at a various late stages of manufacture and use. The sites with an abundance of flakes of fine-grained volcanic stone all have a Late Archaic component, and given the predominance of fine-grained volcanic material in the production of Late Archaic point types, the presence of andesite and rhyolite flakes at sites in Block 2 appears to correlate most strongly to Late Archaic occupation. Archaic Forager sites with no pastoral component rarely had obsidian flakes, and obsidian use appears to have been relatively diminished. This lack of obsidian flaking debris in Forager sites is further supporting evidence for embedded procurement and source-area tool production during the Archaic Forager times.

Numerous projectile points diagnostic of the Archaic Forager period were found in Blocks 4 and 5, but the surface of these sites was dominated by evidence from later reoccupation and therefore it is difficult to isolate these lithic concentrations as belonging to the non-pastoral or pastoral period. Rock shelters in Block 5, like Mollepunku and Kakapunku, appear to have had high rates of reoccupation throughout prehistory.

The Block 3 area around Callalli has the lightest evidence of Archaic Forager period occupation. Chert production sites on river banks, and some small, isolated sites in sheltered areas, provide the bulk of the evidence in this region. Perhaps the paucity of the Archaic Forager component in Block 3 reflects the better hunting opportunities elsewhere, such as on the high puna, and better vegetation and gathering opportunities in the lower altitude Colca valley downstream. It appears that the Callalli area was relatively lightly occupied during the Archaic and perhaps the more specialized ecology of the puna above and the lush valley below were more conducive to Archaic Forager subsistence. The sites identified here appear to have been the result of short-term stays in the course of travel through the river valley.