Patrón de Asentamiento
The inland groups inhabited caves and rock overhangs located near the lakes of the Andean foothills, and practiced a highly mobile lifestyle. In contrast, on the coast the environmental conditions were well suited to gathering the resources needed, which allowed these groups to establish semi-sedentary nuclear settlements near stable water sources. Their dwellings consisted of tent-like structures containing a small hearth surrounded with stone slabs. These sites were occupied repeatedly, as the dense middens of sea shells nearby indicate. The groups probably formed networks of settlements along the coast based on the family as the basic productive unit but gathering in larger groups at specific times of the year.