Inka History in Knots: Reading Khipus as Primary Sources (cover)

Autoctonía. Revista de Ciencias Sociales e Historia, 2017

Autoctonía. Revista de Ciencias Sociales e Historia, 2017

Students of the Inka khipu (or quipu, Quechua for " knot "), the knotted-string devices used for record keeping in the Inka Empire, have long been frustrated by our inability to interpret the information recorded on these devices, especially since Spanish chroniclers say that any indigenous, first-hand information on Inka history was registered on khipus. This article argues, first, that we are now able to interpret many Inka administrative khipus, and second, that when we succeed in compiling numerous administrative interpretations, or readings, they can be assembled into an indigenous history of the Inka Empire. It is further argued that such a history would follow the contours of an Annales history, the style of history writing that privileged administrative records, such as censuses and tribute records, over those focusing on the lives and deeds of individuals. The article then questions how the Inkas conceived of and structured history. Their history may not have been structured like Western linear history, but rather in cyclical form, with events repeated over time (comparison is made to the Gada system of Ethiopia).

Journal of Latin American Studies, 2019

2020

I-This course will explore one of the most remarkable, complex, and mysterious artifacts of the ancient Americas: the khipu (or quipu; Quechua-"knot"), the knotted-string devices used for record keeping in the Inca empire of pre-Columbian South America. The Spanish conquistadores and priests described this recording technology and its use in Inka administration in some detail; however, none of the Spanish commentators really understood how khipu recording and reading were performed. Recent studies (using an innovative mix of ethnography, ethnohistory, and computation/databasing) have revealed new insights into this hitherto mysterious system of record keeping, especially its grounding in the principle of binary coding. During the course of the semester, we will investigate such issues as: What were the precursors to Inca cord-keeping technology? Did khipu recording represent a system of writing? What were the principal sign-values used by khipu-keepers (known as khipukamayuqs-"knot makers/animators") to record information in these devices? How standardized were recording methods across the empire? To what extent did the structures and principles of khipu recording mimic the structures and organization of the Inka Empire itself? How did khipu recording compare to the writing/recording systems of other ancient civilizations, such as those of ancient Egypt, Sumeria, China and the Maya? And what became of the practice of recording on knotted cords following the Spanish conquest? Students will have the opportunity to make khipus, in order to understand how these remarkable objects were made and used, and we will study khipu samples in the Peabody Museum. Students will write a research paper on a topic worked out in consultation with the professor.

Journal of Anthropological Research , 2018

offerings, and other acts were common occurrences in villages, temples, trails, springs, mountaintops, and other locations. In an animate and interconnected world, repeated, rule-based actions are often seen as critical to sustaining life. Ritual is found most everywhere in these case studies, and the authors employ a rich variety of methodologies from view sheds to gamma analysis and toponyms to better understand these contexts. Yet rituals, in an epistemological sense, exist as a category because they are distinct from secular activities. One senses the authors' unease about where "ritual" should end in the Andes, and Moore pushes back on more expansive definitions in his closing chapter by suggesting that "not everything in [or outside of ] an archaeological site is the product of ritual."

Latin American Research Review, 2021

Although the knotted cord texts known as khipus have been created in the Andes for over a millennium (ca. AD 950-1950), their historical philology has been little understood. This study, based on original archival and ethnographic research, analyzes hybrid khipu/alphabetic texts known as "khipu boards," examining their development in colonial Peru, and their role in twentieth-century Andean rituals. Particular attention is paid to a previously unknown sacred manuscript, the Entablo, from the community of San Pedro de Casta, Peru, which describes how villagers used khipu boards in their annual religious ceremonies until the 1950s. This study reveals new insights into the social and symbolic nature of post-Inka khipus as texts, particularly with reference to gender, place, and knowledge. Aunque los cordones anudados conocidos como "khipus" se han creado en los Andes durante más de un milenio (ca. 850-1950), su filología histórica ha sido poco entendida. Basado en una investigación etnográfica y de archivo original, este estudio analiza textos híbridos khipu/ alfabéticos conocidos como "khipu tabla", examinando su desarolla en el Perú colonial y su papel en los rituales andinos del siglo XX. Se presta especial atención a un manuscrito sagrado previamente desconocido, el Entablo, de la comunidad de San Pedro de Casta, Perú, que describe cómo los aldeanos usaban las khipu tablas en sus ceremonias religiosas anuales hasta la década de 1950. Este estudio revela nuevas ideas sobre la naturaleza social y simbólica del post-Inka khipus como textos, particularmente con referencia al género, el lugar, y el conocimiento.

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos, 2024

In 2007, in the IV Actas de las Jornadas Internacionales sobre Textiles Precolombinos, Kylie Quave noted the existence of various structural anomalies in khipus presumed to date to the Late Horizon. These anomalies included the use of non-cotton vegetal fibres, the inclusion of single red strings, subsidiary cords that are plied through rather than half hitched, and the placement of long knots and figure-8 knots "in a way that precludes a numerical reading". Since Quave's article, there has been little examination of such anomalies, nor have scholars known whether such anomalies were to be found in khipus that had been radiocarbon dated to the Late Horizon, or whether they occurred only in post-Inka khipus. This chapter examines anomalies in a khipu radiocarbon dated to the Late Horizon (475+-26 cal BP), focusing on a specific type of anomalous knot, referred to as a “nether knot”, which occurs below the unit position on a khipu pendant in a zone where, according to Locke’s knot typology, no knot should be present. Nether knots, which are found on one or more pen- dants in over 20% of the khipus in the Online Khipu Repos- itory, the world’s largest khipu database, form a significant feature of the khipu corpus. This article proposes a reading of nether knots based on ethnographic analogy with nether knots on 20th century khipus. A better understanding of nether knots allows us to provide more precise readings for the khipus that contain them, necessitating a revision to Leland Locke’s influ- ential knot typology.

Encyclopédie des Historiographies, 2019

In recent years, the field of Native American historiography has expanded to consider "histories executed in graphic registers other than alphabetic writing, specifically those that are painted, knotted, and threaded" (Boone 2012, 211). Such non-alphabetic inscriptions, it is argued, reveal the indigenous epistemologies for perceiving and registering the past in a uniquely insightful manner. Khipus, the Andean corded communication system that reached its zenith during the Inka Empire (AD c. 1400 - 1532), have presented a challenge to the study of such non-alphabetic historiography because, until very recently, very little was understood about how khipus recorded information (Urton 2003; 2017). Numerous advances, however, have provided for a greater understanding of khipu historiography, both in terms of how khipus can inform us about Inka history and of what khipus reveal through modern ritual practices.