Quipus, the Inca's Recording System
Interpretations of Knots and Colors in the Absence of Script
Feb 14, 2009
From the time of the Spanish conquerors to today's archaeologists, anthropologists and other scientists, many attempts have been made to decipher the elaborate knot-system, known as quipu. Some light has been shed on the purpose and meaning, but much still remains a mystery. It's equally enigmatic why such a sophisticated people as the Inca have not developed a script to record the spoken word.
Inca Empire
The Inca kingdom of Cuzco was founded around 1200. It became the largest pre-Columbian empire under Pachacutec from 1442 onwards. The vast territory needed a strong and centralised administration and record keeping. A means to achieve this aim was, among others, the invention of quipus. Inca officials, the Quipomayocs, who had to have basic knowldege of mathematics and arithmetic, were the creators, interpreters and administrators of the quipus.
Quipus consist of strings of wool, from simple strands to elaborate patterns, incorporating different colors and a great variety of knots.
Spanish Conquerors
A valuable source of early information is the work "The Second Part of the Chronicle of Peru" by Pedro de Cienza de Leon. He was a conquistador and wrote his account in 1540, seven years after Pizarro invaded the Inca territory. He describes the quipus as a means of recording economic output, census, the production of gold and silver objects, taxes and tributes and other numeric uses. He expresses his amazement at the Inca's track keeping of the empire's population, widows, workmen etc, all by means of quipus.
However, the new Spanish rulers were highly suspicious of the quipus. They feared that the 'secret' system might be used against them or that they might contain pageant symbols undermining Catholicism. The result was, that many quipus were destroyed.
Interpretations
Apart from numeric recording, it's also thought, that the quipus may have been mneonic devices, used by contemporary historians and story tellers to help them remember legends and events. This interpretation came about because of the absence of script.
The quipus may also record or have a connection to the ceque system. The Inca state was divided into regions and provinces, mainly for administrative purposes, by ceques. The word means 'line' or 'path' with a star-formed network of ceques emanating from Cuzco. Quipus may have been ceque maps.
Many efforts have gone into interpreting quipus as some sort of code for the spoken word. Gary Urton is a prominent promoter of that idea.
Special mention must be made of scientists Marcia and Robert Ascher. After examining hundreds of quipus and cataloguing the knots, they discovered three basic types:
Simple overhand knots
Long knots
Figure 8 knots
The single knots, clusters of knots and distances between them, form a basic 10 decimal system.
For further information on the publications of Ascher and Urton consult:
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/quipu also see: agutje.homestead.com/files/quipu_B.htm
Although some of the secrets of the quipus have been lifted, there still remains a wide open field for scientists to discover the complete meaning of the devices and, along the way, perhaps come to a conclusion why the Incas did not have a written language.
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