Unraveling the Mystery of the Quipu: The “Writing” System of the Ancient Andes

Figure 1: Quipu (American Museum of Natural History)

When you think about writing you probably think of composing a series of words onto a medium such as a piece of paper or into your computer or phone.  The words you write are made up of a series of letters that are used to spell out specific words that can be read by anyone who understands the language of the text.  This idea comes to mind because that is how you (and most of us) learn to communicate through writing, but not all cultures learned how to write using the same alphabet we used.  Linguistic anthropologists recognize that a series of alphabets can and are often used to communicate specific languages, and you may be familiar with this concept if you have ever learned Spanish, German, or Chinese.  Each of these languages have their own letters or scripts used to communicate their language through text. 

What you may not be familiar with are the languages that do not utilize traditional alphabets that many modern language systems do.  One such writing system is known as the quipu (khipu), which is a series of knotted ropes meant to communicate numbers and ideas.  Today’s blog post will explore what the quipu was, who used it, its importance, as well as it discontinued use.

The quipu is a system of recording through a series of knotted ropes (Figure 1).  Believed to have been developed as early as 900 AD the quipus are popularly associated with the ancient Inca of Peru, although the quipu was definitely utilized by the Huari and potentially other Pre-Columbian Andean cultural groups.  Unfortunately, around 750 quipus exist today, having been destroyed by the Spanish Conquistadors, so are knowledge about them is limited to what little ethnohistoric information remains and what archaeologists are interpreting from the existing quipus.

The quipus were created primarily using cotton or camelid wool ropes, although there are a few ropes created from human or Taruca (Andean deer) hair or vegetable fibers.  The quipus themselves consisted of a long stick or rope that acted as the top or mounting of additional knotted ropes that conveyed the messages.  Each knotted rope consisted of a primary or main cord to which several pendent cords branched off.  Pendent cords held subsidiary cords.  Each level of the quipu was used to convey specific numeric information, enabling the reader (known as a quipucamayoc) to quickly interpret census numbers or other information concerning amounts of items, dates, or other numeric data.  The ropes were also displayed in various colors, which ethnohistoric information and archaeological interpretation supports notions of narrative information being recorded through the quipu.  Thus far scholars believe that each color represented a different group or class of people, from warriors and nobility to living versus the dead.  As the information conveyed in the quipu may have been limited the quipucamayoc were responsible for having excellent memories in order to remember and interpret the information stored within the quipus.

Because of the vast amount of information contained in the quipus they were an incredibly important recording devices among ancient Andean cultural groups.  In lieu of a written, alphabetic system the quipu allowed for communication within the Incan empire, which stretched from southern Ecuador to northern Chile.  The quipu traveled great distances throughout the empire, and their rope construction may have been optimal for travel by human messenger.  Furthermore, their rope construction also allowed them to be better able to survive over time, thereby allowing for the oral traditions housed within them to be preserved over the generations.

Unfortunately, the quipu tradition was forcibly discontinued by the Spanish Conquistadors, who associated the practice with the Inca faith.  As part of the charge of the Conquistadors by the Spanish crown was to spread and convert the conquered to Catholicism all elements of “pagan” faiths were destroyed, which included the quipu.  As a result the ability to read the quipu was lost, as was the knowledge used for their creation and the information stored within them.  Fortunately, archaeologists and other historical scholars are working diligently to unlock the information stored within the remaining quipus, which is providing us a greater knowledge base on what life was like in the ancient Andean worlds.

Bibliography

Cartwright, M. (2014, May 8). Quipu. Retrieved from Ancient History Encyclopedia: https://www.ancient.eu/Quipu/

Dixon, C. (n.d.). HUARI culture . Retrieved from Gold and the Incas: Lost Worlds of Peru: https://nga.gov.au/exhibition/Incas/Default.cfm?IRN=227101&BioArtistIRN=41379&MnuID=3&GalID=7&ViewID=2

Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino. (2003). Narrative Quipus? Retrieved from Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino: http://www.precolombino.cl/en/exposiciones/exposiciones-temporales/exposicion-quipu-contar-anudando-en-el-imperio-inka-2003/quipus-y-cuentos/

Phillips, T. (2014, May 5). The Knots in the Quipu, and in the Friar's Belt. Retrieved from American Mathematical Society: http://www.ams.org/publicoutreach/feature-column/fc-2014-05

Swetz, F. J. (2010). The Quipu. Retrieved from Mathematical Association of America: https://www.maa.org/press/periodicals/convergence/the-quipu