Communities practice agriculture in a period called "Formative". In this period, people live in villages, discover and develop ceramics, make textiles, enhance stone tools and some discover the copper and gold metallurgy. Llamas, vicuñas and guinea pigs were raised in the lands of the North, Central and South Andes. Potatoes, geese, mellocos, quinoa was grown. Ropes, tools were made. Fishing was practiced intensively on the coast. In Andean America, they were economically articulated by taking advantage of different ecological levels. This is evidenced by what happened to the Spondylus shell, native to the Ecuadorian coast and highly valued in Andean societies, found in places like Chile and Mexico.