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The review discusses Gary Urton's book "Inka History in Knots," which presents khipus as vital historical documents rather than mere artifacts. It emphasizes the role of khipukamayuqs in Inka administration, their challenges in data standardization, and the interpretative complexities of khipu analysis. Urton proposes an innovative historical approach to integrate khipu data into a framework that highlights social and economic structures rather than focusing solely on prominent historical figures.
Autoctonía. Revista de Ciencias Sociales e Historia, 2017
Autoctonía. Revista de Ciencias Sociales e Historia, 2017
Journal of Interdisciplinary History
Traditionally, writing has served as a benchmark of civilization that divided human societies into two groups, those with and those without history. Furthermore, according to most scholars, the development of extended, complex sociopolitical organizations is not possible without writing. In the sixteenth century, indigenous American states, such as the Aztec and Inca empires, have always presented certain problems in this regard. Although these sociopolitical organizations were highly complex, they did not possess writing as normally deªned. The Aztecs used a form of pictography, but the Incas did not have a medium that corresponded so easily with writing. This problem may be solved in one of two ways: (1) by modifying the theory about the necessity of writing for the development of complex political systems; or (2) by claiming that the Andeans had their own form of writing. The second solution normally, although not always, includes a redeªnition of writing. Both solutions must take into account the system of knotted, colored strings known as the khipu (also spelled quipu), and both, in their various articulations, require their own deªnitions of the nature of the medium-that is to say, the nature of khipu semiosis.
In his article “From Knots to Narratives” , published recently in Ethnohistory, Gary Urton examines the use of khipu in a judicial context (La Plata 1579), as described in the legal documentation of the proceedings. The data registered in the mentioned khipu constitute the proof presented by the plaintiffs. These khipu contain the quantities of goods delivered by the community of Sacaca, as tribute to their encomendero, during a five-year period. One of the facts that intrigues that researcher is the need for two khipukamayuq in the premises, apparently giving the same report. Also, he wonders about the use of stones to count or do arithmetical operations with the figures extracted from the khipu. At the end of the article, Urton urges other researchers to offer new insights to the task of understanding this code and its uses. This invitation motivated me to use Polo de Ondegardo’s relaçion “Notables daños de no guardar a los indios sus fueros” [1571] as a source of information to answer Urton´s questions regarding the need of having two khipu in court and the function of the stones in the calculations. I suggest that each of the khipukamayuq belongs either to Hanan or Urin, the two moieties in which spatial division is conceived of in the Andes. They need to be together in order to give a full account of the taxes paid. Also, in my view, the stones were used as tokens to add fractions into whole units.
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.
Latin American Research Review, 2003
By these knots they counted the successions of the times and when each Inca ruled, the children he had, if he was good or bad, valiant or cowardly, with whom he was married, what lands he conquered, the buildings he constructed, the service and riches he received, how many years he lived, where he died, what he was fond of; in sum, everything that books teach and show us was got from there. 1 Martín de Murúa
Andean Past Special Publication 13, 2024
The work of John V. Murra remains fundamental to an understanding of Andean human ecology and Inca economics. Nevertheless, some of his most important articles have never been published in English. At the request of Heather Lechtman, Murra translated “Las etno-categories de un khipu estatal”. In this work, Murra reconstructed a quipu prepared and maintained by the lords of Xauxa (Jauja) in the Peruvian central Andes during the early Colonial Period and explored what it may have recorded in terms of Andean thought. We publish Murra’s translation for the first time. Andean Past Special Publication 13 contains a preface and notes by Monica Barnes, an account by Heather Lechtman, previously published in Chungara Revista de Antropología Chilena, of how she made use of Murra’s article in her MIT classes, and the Spanish language version of this article, first published in 1974.
TRAVERSEA: JOURNAL OF TRANSATLANTIC HISTORY, 2013
This paper seeks to synthesize the insights from the wide variety of scholarship while fleshing out the complex story of the roles that khipu played in the encounter of native and Spanish cultures. The chronicle record provides key insights into both how the Spaniards perceived the Inca and their khipu and how those with native claims of authority presented Inca civilization and its cultural trappings, including their system of knots. Augmenting the context of the chronicle record are additional sources from the colonial period. Two important arenas of encounter between indigenous and Spaniard were the church and court. Evidence from these forums of unequal power illustrates the nuanced presentation and perception of the khipu within the larger context of the navigation of Spanish hegemony. Taken together, these sources provide a glimpse into how the khipu itself was transformed by its use by natives in a colonial context.
Ethnohistory, 2018
This article focuses on a linked pair of " documents " from mid-seventeenth-century coastal Peru. The analysis first examines a revisita (an administrative " revisit ") carried out in 1670 in settlements around the town of San Pedro de Corongo, in the lower Santa River Valley. The revisit describes a census of the population of what are described as six pachacas (" one-hundreds ") administrative/census units that usually coincided with ayllus (the Andean clanlike sociopolitical groups). The document identifies 132 tributaries distributed across the six ayllus, all but two of whom are identified by name. Tribute is assessed on this new census count. The information in the revisit is then compared to the organization of a group of six khipus (knotted-string recording devices) that were said to have been recovered from a burial in the Santa Valley. The six khipus are organized into a total of 133 color-coded groups of six cords. The knot values on the first cords of the six-cord groups total the same value as the tribute assessed in the revisit document, and it is argued on these grounds that the khipus and the revisit document pertain to the same administrative procedure. The attachment knots of the first cords of the six-cord groups vary in a binary fashion by attachment type (i.e., tied either " verso " or " recto "). It is argued that this construction feature divides the tributaries identified in the revisit into moieties; therefore, the khipus constitute a gloss on the social organization of the population identified in the revisit document. It is suggested that the names of the tributaries may be signed by color coding in the khipus.
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