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Knotted cords hanging from a main cord.
Also known as: Khipu, Knot record, Inca knotted cords, Hanging knotted strings
A quipu records information in the knots, positions and colours of hanging cords, and the numerical part is decoded: it is a base-ten positional system. Whether quipus also encoded narrative text is unresolved, and most surviving examples cannot be read.
Denotes an Andean recording device of knotted cords suspended from a primary cord, used administratively in the Inca state and earlier.
Contexts: History
Encodes numbers in a base-ten positional system, with knot type and position on the cord carrying the value — this part is decoded and verified.
Contexts: History
May also have encoded non-numerical information, which remains unresolved; most surviving quipus cannot be read.
The numerical system is decoded. Whether quipus also recorded narrative or linguistic content is an open research question, and claims to have read a narrative quipu are not generally accepted.
Contexts: History
Was suppressed by Spanish colonial authorities, which is part of why so little decoding context survives.
Contexts: History
A thick horizontal primary cord from which many thinner cords hang, each tied with clusters of knots at intervals along its length, in cords of varying colour.