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This research concerns the origins and evolution of chiefdoms by focusing on one sequence of chiefdom development in the Valle de la Plata, Colombia. It evaluates the extent to which an overall improvement in the conditions for agriculture, due to climatic changes, affected the emergence of chiefdoms in the Valle de la Plata (Colombia). Here, conspicuous complexes of burial mounds and statues indicated the presence of chiefdoms by the Regional Classic period (1-850 A.D.). This report discusses the socio-economic structure of the Formative communities which precede the Regional Classic, evaluating the nature and extent of the socio-economic changes that accompany the beginning of the Regional Classic and assesses the importance of agricultural intensification as a source for the emergence of wealth and status differentiation. By drawing upon evidence recovered from households it is concluded that wealth differences during the Formative 3 were weakly developed. Thus, economic differentiation does not seem to have been a major factor in the establishment of the social differences observed by the Regional Classic. Ideological-religious bases seem a more likely factor. This research also provides a refinement of the ceramic chronology for the Valle de la Plata and provides a characterization of Formative communities.