* Calendar quipu from Museo Leymebamba
https://khipukamayuq.fas.harvard.edu/images/KhipuGallery/Chachapoyas/CalendarAlbum/images/UR006%20Round_jpg.jpg
https://khipukamayuq.fas.harvard.edu/images/KhipuGallery/Chachapoyas/CalendarAlbum/images/UR006%20Round_jpg.jpg
These quipu were found in their original spiral bundles, as they were often stored.
*Both images from Harvard Khipu Database Project
khipukamayuq.fas.harvard.edu/KGPuruchuco.html
khipukamayuq.fas.harvard.edu/KGPuruchuco.html
Accounting
It was in 1912 when L. Leland Locke discovered that the knots and strings on the quipu represented mathematical data. Since then, researchers Marcia and Robert Ascher have shown that the clusters of knots represent digits and the knots are organized in a base ten system. Quipus were used to document calculations already made through other methods to document livestock and crop data, census data, bloodlines, and other statistical data.
*Quipu from Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
www.smb-digital.de/eMuseumPlus?service=direct/1/ResultLightboxView/result.t1.collection_lightbox.$TspTitleImageLink.link&sp=10&sp=Scollection&sp=SfieldValue&sp=0&sp=0&sp=3&sp=Slightbox_3x4&sp=180&sp=Sdetail&sp=0&sp=F&sp=T&sp=183 Below: a quipucamayoc accountant
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Calendar
This large quipu (>700 pendant strings) with systematic cord groupings and knots lead researchers to believe that it was used as a calendar. Accounts by Spanish explorers and subsequent findings of matching quipus support this analysis.
*Quipu from Musee Chileno de Arte Precolumbino
www.precolombino.cl/en/exposiciones/exposiciones-temporales/exposicion-quipu-contar-anudando-en-el-imperio-inka-2003/quipus-y-cuentas/los-quipus-de-laguna-de-los-condores-region-de-chachapoyas-peru/ Below: a quipumayoc astrologer
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*Illustrations from Nueva coronica y buen gibierno (New Chronicles and Good Government) by Guaman Poma de Ayala; pages 362 and 831, respectively
The book is available digitally from The Royal Library of Denmark.
www.kb.dk/permalink/2006/poma/info/en/frontpage.htm
The book is available digitally from The Royal Library of Denmark.
www.kb.dk/permalink/2006/poma/info/en/frontpage.htm
In 2002, Gary Urton, a Harvard researcher, and Carrie Brezine created the Khipu Database project. This "centralized repository" of all the existing quipus (nearly 1000) documents the precise physical attributes of each quipu enabling researchers to analyze, match specimens, find patterns, which supports the deciphering of these amazing artifacts. Through the database, researchers are beginning to find evidence that quipus were not only used as numerical and calendrical devices, but also narrative devices, possibly even stories and poems.
*Narrative quipu is from the American Museum of Natural History
www.precolombino.cl/en/exposiciones/exposiciones-temporales/exposicion-quipu-contar-anudando-en-el-imperio-inka-2003/quipus-y-cuentos/#!prettyPhoto
www.precolombino.cl/en/exposiciones/exposiciones-temporales/exposicion-quipu-contar-anudando-en-el-imperio-inka-2003/quipus-y-cuentos/#!prettyPhoto