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[[Image:Quipu.png|thumb|250px|Representation of a quipu]]

'''Quipu''' or '''khipu''' were recording devices used during the [[Inca Empire]] and its predecessor societies in the [[Andes|Andean]] region. A quipu usually consists of colored [[cotton]] cords with numeric and other values encoded by knots in a [[Decimal|base 10]] positional system. Quipus may have just a few strands, but some have up to 2,000 strands.

(''Quipu'' is the [[Spanish language]] spelling and the most common spelling in [[English language|English]]. ''Khipu'' is the word for "[[knot]]" in the [[Cusco]] [[dialect]] of the [[Quechua language]]; the ''kh'' is an [[aspiration (phonetics)|aspirated]] ''k''. In some other dialects, the term is ''kipu''.)

During the development of the system, there was no attempt to remaster, or recreate phonetic sounds as the script in European writings does. The quipu have yet to be fully deciphered, and there are a variety of theories as to how much information they contain.

==Possible usage==

Many uses that are known today for the quipu are: [[census]] counts, [[tax]] [[accounting]], a count of items that should be bought or sold and basic numerical data. Inca administrators seemed to be the primary users of the quipu, using it as a way to keep track of their resources like livestock and farming. These administrators would be in charge of certain districts that divided up the empire.

Marcia and Robert Ascher, after analyzing several hundred quipus, have shown that most information on the quipus is numeric, and these numbers can be read. Each cluster of knots is a digit, and there are three types of knots: simple [[overhand knot]]s; [[long knot]]s made up of two or more turns; and [[figure-of-eight knot]]s. A number is represented as a sequence of knot clusters in base 10.

* Powers of ten are shown by position along the string, and this position is aligned between successive strands.

* Digits in positions for 10 and higher powers are represented by clusters of simple knots (e.g. 40 is four simple knots in a row in the "tens" position).

* Digits in the "ones" position are represented by long knots (e.g. 4 is a knot with 4 turns). Because of the way the knots are tied, the digit 1 cannot be shown this way and is represented in this position by a figure-of-eight knot.

* Zero is represented by the absence of a knot in the appropriate position.

* Because the ones digit is shown in a distinctive way, it is clear where a number ends. One strand on a quipu can therefore contain several numbers.

For example, if 4s represents four simple knots, 3L represents a long knot with three turns, E represents a figure-of-eight knot and X represents a space:

* The number 731 would be represented by 7s, 3s, E

* The number 804 would be represented by 8s, X, 4L

* The number 107 followed by the number 51 would be represented by 1s, X, 7L, 5s, E

This reading can be confirmed by a fortunate fact: quipus regularly contain sums in a systematic way. For instance, a cord may contain the sum of the next ''n'' cords, and this relationship is repeated throughout the quipu. Sometimes there are sums of sums as well. Such a relationship could not exist if the knots were incorrectly read.

Some data items are not numbers but what Ascher and Ascher call ''number labels''. They are still composed of digits, but the resulting number seems to be used as a code, much as we use numbers to identify individuals, places, or things. Lacking the context for individual quipus, it is difficult to guess what any given code might mean. Other aspects of the quipu would have communicated information as well: color coding, relative placement of cords, spacing, and the structure of cords and sub-cords.

Some have argued that far more than numeric information is present and that the quipu are a primitive [[writing system]]. This is especially important as there is no surviving record of a written Quechua from before the [[Spanish conquest of Peru|Spanish invasion]], something which is extremely rare for such an advanced [[civilization]].

The [[August 12]], [[2005]] edition of the journal ''[[Science (journal)|Science]]'' includes a report "Khipu Accounting in Ancient Peru" by [[Gary Urton]] and [[Carrie J. Brezine]] for the first time identifying a quipu element for a non-numeric concept, a [[toponym]] for the city [[Puruchuco]] (near [[Lima]]), represented by three figure-of-eight knots at the start of a quipu.

==Quipucamayocs==

[[Quipucamayocs]] (Quechua ''khipukamayuq'', "khipu-authority"), the accountants of Tahuantinsuyu, created and deciphered the quipu knots. Quipucamayocs were capable of performing simple [[mathematics]], basic [[arithmetic]] operations such as [[addition|adding]], [[subtraction|subtracting]], [[multiplication|multiplying]], and [[division|dividing]] information for the [[indigenous people]]. This included keeping track of [[mita]], a form of [[taxation]]. The Quipucamayocs also tracked the type of [[labor]] being performed, maintained a record of [[economic output]], and ran a [[census]] that counted everyone from infants to "old blind men over 80". The system was also used to keep track of the calendar.

==Conquest==

[[Quipucamayocs]] were not the only members of [[Inca#Society|Inca society]] to use the quipu. Inca [[historians]] used the quipu when telling the Spanish about Tahuantinsuyu history (whether they recorded important numbers or actually contained the story itself is unknown). Members of the ruling class were usually taught to read the quipu as part of their education. ''(See: [[Inca education]])''

In the early years of the [[Spanish conquest of Peru]], Spanish officials often relied on the quipu to settle disputes over local [[tribute payment|tribute payments]] or goods production. Also, Spanish chroniclers concluded that quipus were used basically as mnemonic devices to communicate and record information in the numerical format. Quipucamayocs could be summoned to court, where their bookkeeping was considered legal documentation of past payments.

==Suppression and destruction==

The [[Spain|Spanish]] quickly suppressed the use of the quipu. The [[Conquistador]]es realized the Quipucamayocs often remained loyal to their original rulers rather than the [[King of Spain]], and Quipucamayocs could lie about the contents of a message. The Conquistadors were also attempting to convert the indigenous people to [[Catholicism]]. Anything representing the [[Inca religion]] was considered [[idolatry]] and an attempt to disregard Catholic conversion. Many Conquistadors considered quipu to be idolatrous and therefore destroyed many of them.

==Status today==

Today only 600 Incan quipu survive. More primitive uses of the quipu have also continued in the [[Peru|Peruvian]] highlands. Some historians believe only the Quipucamayocs that made the specific quipu could read it. If this is true it cannot be considered a form of writing, but rather a mnemonic device. Many historians, however, have attempted to convert the quipu into a decipherable language because the [[Tahuantinsuyu]] was such a powerful Empire prior to its conquest by Spain; learning more about the Inca side of the story could possibly reveal an entirely new link to the past.

==In literature==

The [[treasure hunt]] of [[Clive Cussler]]'s [[Dirk Pitt]] [[novel]] ''[[Inca Gold]]'' centers around the decryption of a quipu's message.

==External links==

*[http://khipukamayuq.fas.harvard.edu/ The Khipu Database Project at [[Harvard University]]] (gallery, archives, references, researchers, etc.)

*[http://agutie.homestead.com/files/Quipu_B.htm The Quipu, an Incan Data Structure] by Antonio Gutierrez, from "Geometry Step by Step from the Land of the Incas"

*[http://www.sfu.ca/archaeology/museum/laarch/inca/quipue.html Quipu: A Modern Mystery]

*[http://www.anthropology.wisc.edu/chaysimire/titulo2/khipus/quipus.htm University of Wisconsin, Department of Anthropology] How do quipus record information?

*[http://agutie.homestead.com/files/Quipu_B.htm Geometry from the land of the Incas]

===Discovery of "Puruchuco" toponym===

*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4143968.stm Experts 'decipher' Inca strings] - BBC

*[http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/08/11/knotty.tales.ap/index.html Inca knotted strings tell ancient tale] - CNN

*[http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8633818/ Peruvian ‘writing’ system goes back 5,000 years] - MSNBC

==References==

*Kenneth Adrien, ''Andean Worlds: Indigenous History, Culture and Consciousness''. Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Press, 2001. ISBN 0826323596.

*Marcia Ascher and Robert Ascher, ''Code of the Quipu: Databook'', University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 1978. ASIN B0006X3SV4.

*Marcia Ascher and Robert Ascher, ''Code of the Quipu: A Study in Media, Mathematics, and Culture'', University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 1980. ISBN 0472093258.

[[Category:Archaeological artefacts]]

[[Category:Inca]]

[[Category:Inscriptions]]

[[Category:Knot theory]]

[[Category:Mathematical notation]]

[[Category:Recording]]

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