Quipu System of Record Keeping
In 2001 archeologist excavating in the northern region of Peru
stumbled across something very interesting. In a the remains of a village of the
Caral civilization, which dates back ~4,600 years, a system of recording was
discovered. This system is known as Quipu. There
are ~200 Quipu recovered from the 18 village ruins of the Caral
civilizations. Many of these Quipus are believed to have been destroyed by the
Spaniards.
Quipu is an intricate system of record keeping. Each string represents
something like an object, really anything that can (or needed to be) counted.
For example, maze (corn) was represented by a yellow string. If one was to count
fifty two ears of corn the first knot on the yellow string would consist of five
rounds of string while the second knot consisted of two rounds of string
(example shown below). The Inca were known to be very meticulous in their
accounting and inventory, this system allowed them to keep a detailed record of
everything they possessed.
One reason these Quipu are so interesting is due to the uncertainty and possibility of its age. These Quipu found in the Caral village only date back to ~650 A.D., though the Caral civilization has traditions that link back to the Inca empire which was around ~2000 years prior. The Incas also used Quipu. The age of Quipu is unsure, though the possibility of this being one of the worlds earliest systems of documenting and recording is very high. If the theories of several archeologist's are correct then this could be just a little younger the Mesopotamian Cuneiform
http://ruizspieces.com/hist/img/quipu.jpg
http://agutie.homestead.com/files/Quipu_B.htm
http://archaeology.about.com/od/ancientwriting/a/caralquipu.htm
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Inca_Quipu.jpg
Amerika Jayme
http://ruizspieces.com/hist/img/quipu.jpg
http://agutie.homestead.com/files/Quipu_B.htm
http://archaeology.about.com/od/ancientwriting/a/caralquipu.htm
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Inca_Quipu.jpg
Amerika Jayme