Quipus and how you can make one

October 23, 2017 SouthAmerica

Quipus

I first learned about Los Quipus when I was in elementary school. The mere idea of the Incas had an accounting system was incredible for me, especially because they didn´t have any writing system, but they did manage numbers.

What are the quipus?

Quipus or khipu is a Quechua word meaning knots, were knotted ropes of one or several colors were used to store important information. The Incas used this system of knots to manage better their empire. They kept record of their agricultural and textile production. The Incas had a government structure and the quipucamayoc was the person in charge of the quipus, meaning he was the accountant/manager of the Inca. Every province will have these experts to keep records about the number of their population, production, storage, and most importantly they will keep records of major historic events on their quipus system.

The quipus start with a horizontal main string or rope, and from this rope many strings from different colors will hang with different knots of varying sizes. Other strings would branch off of the principal knots and were known as secondary knots. Each color and knot position along the string had an especial meaning. Some of the most intricate quipus have over one thousand strings. The end result will be a very detailed group of strings, knots, and colors tied together in different ways that only the experts could read.

Some believe that the quipus not only registered statistical records but also include some stories, legends, and poems. This might explains the length of some of the quipus. The Inca rulers will have the quipus available to them thanks to the chasquis who were the messengers carrying the quipus from the Inca to the quipucamayockuna or vice versa.

In some quipus there are strings without any knots on it as well other strings starting on the secondary ones, it has been determined by some experts that some of them represent objects while the knots represent numbers. It has been established that the quipus would have the number 0 on them and could go as high as 10000s. There are three main knots that were used: the simple one, the figure 8 knot and one long knot that consists wrapping the cord many times in what makes an L shape. Another factor to the quipus that is hard to understand is the space between the knots, the length of the strings. Some knots were at the very end of a string with no others tied above it. What we know is that every capital of each province had a quipucamayoc who was in charge of all the accounting and production from the Inca Empire.

So far a total of 751 quipus have been recovered, and these are spread out in Europe, North America and South America. Certainly more were used during the peak of the Inca Empire.

It will be interesting to make your own quipus. If you want to teach kids how much money they can save in one year. All you need is length of string as the main one, and 12 strings in different colors, each representing one each month of the year. Then you will give them an allowance weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. Then they can each make a knot according to the amount of money they are given. If one wants to make it more intricate the kids can tie different knots for each person that gives them some money, such as mom, dad, uncles, grandparents etc… Keep it for one year and they will have a portable, colorful savings account on display.

My Quipus is an e-book that shows how to make your Quipus.