Exchange

The Taraco Peninsula villages were engaged in long-distance trade and exchange from the very beginning of settled life; that is, from the Early Chiripa phase. The evidence for this early trade is the occurrence of three exotic materials in Early Formative Period (and MF) contexts.

1. Cylindrical sodalite beads are frequently encountered as mortuary goods in both Early and Middle Formative contexts. This material - often identified as lapis lazuli - is occasionally found at Chiripa and at other sites in the form of unworked chunks as well as finished beads. The source of this material remains unclear - Browman suggests Cerro Sapo in Cochabamba ([Browman 1981]: 414) - but it is certainly exotic. In four seasons of excavations - from 1992 to 1999) only 108.6 grams of this material were recovered at Chiripa, the majority of it from Early Chiripa contexts.
2. Obsidian is also found in both Early and Middle Formative contexts. It is clear that obsidian was obtained in the form of finished bifaces since very little debitage has been recovered, and virtually no cortex flakes. I have yet to perform characterization studies on the obsidian recovered from Chiripa. Browman, however, reports materials from the Titicaca Basin source - recently located in the Colca Valley near Arequipa and renamed the Chivay source ([Brooks et al. 1997,Burger et al. 1998,Burger et al. 2000]) - and from another source which has yet to be located ([Browman 1981]: 415). The Collca Valley is more than 300 km northwest of Chiripa. Like sodalite, obsidian was imported in small quantities; we have recovered no more than 87.1 g in four excavation seasons.
3. Finally, trace amounts of sea shell are also encountered, normally as tiny discoidal beads in mortuary contexts. These shell beads also occur in both Early and Middle Formative contexts, but are exceedingly rare. TAP has to date recovered only 5.3 g of this material.

Small fragments of silver, copper, and gold are also found, though very infrequently. Normally these are located in burial contexts.

It is clear, then, that long-distance trade in mortuary and prestige items took place as early as the Early Chiripa phase. Equally clear, however, is that this early exchange involved very small quantities of the objects in question. This trading would seem to have been very sporadic and infrequent. There is no evidence in the Early Formative Period for the sort of regular caravan trade postulated by Browman (his ``altiplano mode''; see [Browman 1981]: 414-415).