Organización Social
The regional variations observed among the El Molle groups—their distinct burial patterns and types of ceramics, for example—suggest that, despite their common cultural foundation, each valley was inhabited by an independent social unit under the direction of a local leader and religious expert, but without major social distinctions. Still, the wide territorial distribution of the El Molle culture was facilitated by a certain ideological and social unity that joined the groups as a single people.