6.4.1. Block 1 - Source

The Early Agropastoralist period in the Maymeja area of the Chivay source appears to reflect to major foci of economic interest in the area: (1) obsidian intensification, and (2) the exploitation of the rich pasture from the bofedal that lies in the western half of Maymeja. The strongest manifestation of settlement redundancy in the Maymeja area was at a handful of residential bases that were utilized by pastoralists over the millennia.

The most telling patterns in lithic production evidence come from contexts that differ from the expectations derived from purely pastoralist settlement patterns. For example, there is evidence of substantial settlement in an area with an obsidian workshop that is relatively unused today by the herder that dwells in Maymeja with over 200 head of alpaca. One explanation for this pattern is that the earlier settlement pattern was the result of obsidian procurement and production occurring at the quarry pit on the south side of Maymeja. That is, pastoral land use patterns are largely redundant in the region since approximately 3300 BC, but despite this redundancy there was variation from the purely pastoral pattern that suggests a Formative Period economic focus on obsidian production.