Khipu
Also: quipu
A khipu is an Andean record made of knotted cords; under the Inka it served the state as an accounting tool.
A khipu (also quipu) is a recording device made of cords with knots. In the Inka Empire, specialists known as khipukamayuq used them for state record keeping, including census, tribute and storage.
What do they record?
A 2005 study by Gary Urton and Alejandro Chu of Inkawasi, a state storage site on Peru's south coast, described 34 khipu found in a storehouse, some with traces of peppers, peanuts and beans, and some paired in a way that suggests checks-and-balances accounting.
How many survive?
Counts vary by year and source, from roughly 600 to about 870. Khipu are textile objects like the cloth they sat beside, and the Met's essay on Andean textiles mentions them alongside weaving as Inka record-keeping. Compare tocapu, another Inka system of marks that has not been read.
Sources
- Accounting in the King's Storehouse (Urton and Chu). Latin American Antiquity
- NSF award BCS-0609719: khipu database. National Science Foundation (via Grantome)
- Researchers may be closer to solving ancient Inca mystery. History.com
- Andean Textiles. The Metropolitan Museum of Art
See also
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