Evidence of early social differentiation in the south-central Andean highlands take the form of public architecture and ritual features that occur in the latter part of the Late Archaic at Asana during the Qhuna Phase, 3800-3300 BCE (Aldenderfer 1998: 243-261) and exotic grave goods by the Terminal Archaic (circa 2900 BCE) at Jiskairumoko (Craig 2005: 570). While long-distance exchange of singular items, such as a finely knapped projectile tip of non-local material, are well-documented during the Archaic Forager period, these are arguably examples of 'tokens' used to reinforce social relationships across space through buffering and mutualism (Aldenderfer 1998: 301-302;Brown 1985;Spielmann 1986). At the end of the Late Archaic and into the Terminal Archaic there is evidence of a greater emphasis on creating surpluses and perhaps the first evidence of simultaneous or sequential hierarchy (Johnson 1982). The process of increasing complexity was not necessarily linear as, for example, at Asana in the Awati phase (the Terminal Archaic) where there appears to have been simpler social organization at the site focused on herding (Aldenderfer 1998: 275;Kuznar 1990).

What prompted this emergence of competitive behavior discussed above that perhaps lies at the root of the obsidian intensification witnessed at the Chivay source in the Terminal Archaic? These changes could have roots in gradual processes through the Late Archaic that include domestication, low-level food production, and regional packing resulting from population growth. The frictions that develop from circumscription and reduced mobility are argued to have prompted the emergence of more complex social forms. Alternately, highland complexity could have been prompted by the development of complex behaviors on the coast. On the Pacific littoral, albeit 700 to 1000 km north of what is now the Department of Lima, monumental mound building is documented for the period described here as the Terminal Archaic that is argued to be based on surpluses generated from the bounty of the sea, combined with the production of cotton for nets (Moseley 1975). Research in the Norte Chico area shows that during the third millennia BCE monumental construction at coastal sites like Aspero shifted to inland complexes (Haas, et al. 2004;Shady Solis, et al. 2001), perhaps reflecting the growing importance of inland cotton production for the construction of anchovy nets and also for textile trade. Coastal complexity based on cotton surplus may have stimulated highland trade in the production of a surplus in woolen textiles (Aldenderfer 1999: 218-219), as there is evidence for other highland and Amazon basin goods, such as tropical feathers, at preceramic sites on the central coast of Peru (Quilter 1991). While preservation problems in the highlands destroy evidence of preceramic textiles, the consumption of highland and Amazonian products is documented in coastal sites as far south as the Chinchorro III (2500 - 600 BCE) period in northern Chile (Rivera 1991: 15). Cultigens are also shared over a broad region, suggesting that interregional exchange was extensive during the Early and Middle Formative.

Was the intensified production that was observed at the Chivay source, and the regular consumption of obsidian at Qillqatani, a reflection of aggrandizing behaviors? The timing of the increased production and circulation of obsidian would suggest that it was, above all, a surplus productionenterprise that was a reflection of the changing social and economic context of the Terminal Archaic and Early Formative. The evidence from this research shows that the quarrying at the Q02-2 pit was best correlated with consistent acquisition of large obsidian nodules that were probably in excess of 15cm long, yet the finished tools produced during the Terminal Archaic and onward were very small projectile points, often less than 3 cm in length. Thus, the acquisition of large nodules was not out of necessity based on intended tool forms, but probably for some other signaling value which highlights the relevance of the abundance concept. The perception of surplus would have been enhanced through supply lines as large nodules were consumed. The willingness to excavate for obsidian when there was an abundance of smaller nodules available on the surface, underscores the importance of large nodules to ancient obsidian consumers.

The possession of non-local goods are well documented attributes of aggrandizing behaviors in transegalitarian contexts (Clark and Blake 1994;Hayden 1998), yet it is not necessarily an overt expression of status that one should expect in early stages of social differentiation. Instead, the possession and use of irregularly distributed material, which includes obsidian but also might include salt, herbs, and other semi-rare goods, is a visible testament to the regional integration afforded by emerging caravan networks. Thus, while most individual obsidian artifacts may not have been "wealth items" the regular possession of a surplus of scarce "ordinary goods" of cultural value (Smith 1999) had the effect of imparting prestige on the caravan drivers who amassed and circulated these goods. As these exchange networks matured, the availability of non-local goods probably changed dramatically and, as noted above, the scale of what was considered "exotic" probably diminished as well. In that sense, obsidian production and circulation was a reflection of a transegalitarian socio-political context where an individual's successful participation in the regional economy reflected well upon him or her, and that success likely included acquisition of non-local products and manipulation of surpluses.