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Quipu

For the Quipu X.500 Directory System, see Quipu Directory.
See also: Mathematics of the Incas
Quipu, Khipu
Script type
Other
Time period
c. 2600 BC – 17th century (some variants are used today)
RegionCentral Andes, Norte Chico civilization, Paracas culture, Wari culture, Aymara, Inca
LanguagesAymara, Quechua, Puquina
Related scripts
Sister systems
Chinese knots, Wampum
 This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.
Quipu in the Museo Machu Picchu, Casa Concha, Cusco

Quipu (also spelled khipu) are recording devices fashioned from strings historically used by a number of cultures in the region of Andean South America.[1]

A quipu usually consisted of cotton or camelid fiber strings. The Inca people used quipu for collecting data and keeping records, for monitoring tax obligations, for collecting census records, for calendrical information, and for military organization.[2] The cords stored numeric and other values encoded as knots, often in a base-ten positional system. A quipu could have only a few or thousands of cords.[3] The configuration of the quipu has been "compared to string mops".[4] Archaeological evidence has also shown the use of finely carved wood as a supplemental, and perhaps sturdier, base to which the color-coded cords could be attached.[5] A relatively small number have survived.

Objects that can be identified unambiguously as quipu first appear in the archaeological record of the first millennium AD[6] (though debated quipu occur much earlier[7]). Quipu subsequently played a key part in the administration of the Kingdom of Cusco of the 13th to 15th centuries AD, and (later) of the Inca Empire of 1438 to 1533, flourishing across the Andes from c. 1100 to 1532 AD. As the region became part of the Spanish Empire, quipu were mostly replaced by European writing and numeral systems, and most quipu were identified as idolatrous and destroyed, but some Spaniards promoted the adaptation of the quipu recording system to the needs of the colonial administration, and some priests advocated the use of quipu for ecclesiastical purposes.[8] In several modern villages, quipu have continued to be important items for the local community. It is unclear how many intact quipu still exist and where, as many have been stored away in mausoleums.[6]

Various cultures have used knotted strings unrelated to South American quipu to record information - these include the ancient Chinese, Tibetans, Japanese, and Polynesians.[9][10][11][12][13][14]

Quipu is the Spanish spelling and the most common spelling in English.[15] Khipu (pronounced [ˈkʰɪpʊ], plural: khipukuna) is the word for "knot" in Cusco Quechua. Most Quechua varieties use the term kipu.

  1. ^ Neuman, William (January 2, 2016). "Untangling an Accounting Tool and an Ancient Inca Mystery". New York Times. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
  2. ^ D'altroy, Terence N. (2001). 18
  3. ^ "Ancient Scripts: Quipu". www.ancientscripts.com.
  4. ^ Urton, Gary, Carrie Brezine. Harvard University. (2009)
  5. ^ D'altroy, Terence N. (2001). 16–17
  6. ^ a b Urton, Gary. (2011). "Tying the Archive in Knots, or: Dying to Get into the Archive in Ancient Peru
  7. ^ Mann, C. C. (12 August 2005). "ARCHAEOLOGY: Unraveling Khipu's Secrets". Science. 309 (5737): 1008–1009. doi:10.1126/science.309.5737.1008. PMID 16099962. S2CID 161448364.
  8. ^ Brokaw, Galen (2010). A History of the Khipu. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521197793.
  9. ^ "平成29年度 琉球大学附属図書館・琉球大学博物館（風樹館）企画展 石垣市制施行70周年記念企画展". www.lib.u-ryukyu.ac.jp. Archived from the original on 2021-06-04. Retrieved 2021-06-04.
  10. ^ "Das Arithmeum »Frühere Veranstaltungen» Warazan – Datenspeicher aus Stroh". 2006-02-06. Archived from the original on 2006-02-06. Retrieved 2021-06-04. Dank der Bemühungen von Professor Kurayoshi Takara von der Ryûkyû-Universität in Japan gelangte das Arithmeum in den Besitz von äußerst seltenen japanischen Rechenhilfsmitteln, den 'Warazan'. Übersetzt bedeutet das: 'rechnen mit Stroh'.
  11. ^ "Ancient Chinese Version Of Quipu -Tradition Of Tying Knots Dates Back To Antiquity". MessageToEagle.com. 2017-03-15. Retrieved 2021-06-04.
  12. ^ "新唐書/卷216上" [New book of Tang]. Wikisource. Archived from the original on 14 July 2020. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  13. ^ Quipu, page 99: " [...] one can use the phrase chieh sheng chi shih, which means 'the memorandum or record of knotted cords,' to refer to how Chinese writing evolved before characters were invented."
  14. ^ Goetzfridt, Nicholas J. (20 September 2007). "Polynesia". Pacific Ethnomathematics: A Bibliographic Study. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. p. 26. ISBN 9780824874643. Retrieved 30 March 2024. [Elsdon] Best focuses on the use of knots (or quipus - a word he says originates from Peru, where knots were used similarly to Aotearoa/New Zealand, Hawaiʻi, and other parts of the Pacific) for tallying accounts, quantities of food, and conveying messages.
  15. ^ "quipu". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
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