Quipu
Inca recording system using knotted string / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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]
Quipu, Khipu | |
---|---|
Script type | Other
|
Time period | c. 2600 BC – 17th century (some variants are used today) |
Region | Central Andes, Norte Chico civilization, Paracas culture, Wari culture, Aymara, Inca |
Languages | Aymara, 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. |
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.