Inka History in Knots (Book Review)

[Judi Lynn]

1. These knotted cords may hide the first evidence that the Incas collected taxes

Stringed devices called khipus are undergoing more research scrutiny, but most remain enigmatic
BY BRUCE BOWER 7:00AM, JUNE 11, 2019



PAY UP A pair of stringed devices called khipus, unearthed at an Inca site in a basket covered with chili peppers, used knots to record taxes on stored quantities of those vegetables, researchers say.

G. URTON

While excavating an Inca outpost on Peru’s southern coast, archaeologist Alejandro Chu and his colleagues uncovered some twisted surprises.

In 2013, the scientists were digging in one of four rooms lining the entrance to what had been a massive storage structure, and they started finding sets of colored and knotted strings poking through the ground. Known as khipus, these odd Inca creations recorded census totals, astronomical events and other matters of state interest. In a society without a writing system, khipus also told stories about Inca rulers’ exploits.

That, at least, is what Spanish chroniclers wrote about khipus in the decades after toppling the Inca empire in 1532. But Spanish accounts, which were based on interviews with royal Inca record keepers, provide only general descriptions of these cord contraptions. Researchers have yet to decipher khipus from various parts of the Inca empire, and it’s a mystery what any particular cord array meant to its makers.



INCA LEVIES Knotted cords created by South America’s Inca empire suggest this mysterious civilization, represented here by ruins of a fortified center in Peru, instituted a tax system shortly before falling to Spanish invaders in 1532.
DEMERZEL21/GETTY IMAGES PLUS

So just finding khipus at the Inkawasi site, an imposing military and administrative site unlike any other known from the Inca world, was a big deal. Inkawasi’s khipus were also unlike any found before, and in a weird way. Most were found covered by the remains of regional crops, mainly peanuts or chili peppers.

More:
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/khipus-knotted-cords-incas-taxes?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=latest-newsletter-v2&utm_source=Latest_Headlines&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest_Headlines