Inca Khipu: The record and writing system made entirely of knots | Curator's Corner S6 Ep9

I am constantly amazed at the different and complex ways that humanity finds to communicate and code information.

Greetings from Lima, Peru. Khipu is still a mistery for us Peruvians, for centuries our best scholars have tried to come up with theories about how to decode quipus from the Inca age. Great to know some advancements are being made regarding this meaninful subject not only for Peru but for the entire South American history.

How clever this is! And difficult to meddle with, but lightweight and long lasting. Ideal for transmitting long distances.

It bugs me that main stream history docs are obsessed with war and royal families/historical figures. THIS fascinates me! Thank you!!

Pretty ingenious! Compared to ink-on-parchment or similar methods, I imagine this would be much more durable and able to travel without risk of water/ mechanical damage. In a scoiety which didn't rely on some kind of centralised repository for information, this must have been essential.

We all know about the Roman Empire and how they went about the census, or the English with the Doomsday Book. But it's fascinating to see how people on the other side of the world addressed the exact same issues of running a large, multicultural empire and figuring out how to properly collect taxes on it. What's especially cool is to see how each empire developed their own unique systems of accounting according to their own unique challenges in collecting information.

This is magical. I remember having a dream when I was very little that I was able to "read" fabric patterns. This is like that, only real. And it makes sense that they'd have used more robust, more easily carried ways of recording information, considering where they lived. Can't be hauling stone or clay tablets up and down mountains!

I like to imagine that when they were created, they would have been quite colorful, and they’re only brown and beige because the colors faded.

I've read of the Khipu knot records for years, but this is the first real explanation of how they worked I've encountered. Thank you for this.

I'm a linguist (random) and that is absolutely the most incredible system I've ever seen. I'm blown away. I've heard about this before, but I've never been shown how intricately it was done, and the sheer amount of information contained in one little strip like that... It's genius. Too bad I'm HORRIBLE with math and numbers, I would love to learn at least the fundamentals of the system... God, I wish I could learn this. Just wow.

Excellent explanation. Props to the people who helped decode this thoroughly unique record system!

Absolutely fascinating. The Khipu was like a layered database, I had no idea so much information was codified in them.

What I find very sad is, that most of the "experts" who try de descipher the khipu don't even fluently speak our runa simi (quechua language) nor do they master the different dialects of quechua. In the way the spanish cronicles describe the khipus, it is clear that it was a full writing siystem. But for the spanish conquistadores a writing system without paper and ink was not even a possibility. As far as I know, nobody desciphered a khipu yet. Numbers are more easy to descipher than whole sentences or a complete writing system, so khipus related to numbers are more easy to "guess". Until there is found a rosseta stone for this khipus, it will remain a mystery how they really function and work. To reduce the khipu to a mere tool of calculating numbers is not really cientific in my point of vew....

While walking the Inca trail (yes, there’s more than one) from La Paz to Coroicho in 1994, I was told about the quipu’s ability to tell great stories which had been lost forever. I was fascinated and saddened by the loss about such a wonderful place the Andes are. Now seeing this I am so happy. Muchas gracias.

wow!!! the same way yarn is woven and knotted to make the textile, it is woven to make words and produce information. No wonder both Text and Textile share the same root word!! my ancestors were brilliant!!!

As nice as the knots are this is the most beautiful historian I've ever seen

I love learning about the pre Columbian Americas. So much of my ancestors history , language, and culture was lost, so any knowledge that survived is so precious to those of us with native blood.

This simply blows my mind. The first time I heard of a Khipu was on the show Numb3rs. But I never knew how complex they could be...simply amazing.

The best and clearest explanation I have ever heard as to the decoding of a khipu based on our current knowledge. Fantastic. Thank you Cecilia. 🧡

Fabulous computing! Much data in small space!