Beingindigenous | Magazine

From Middle Horizon times (600-1000 AD) onward, the Andean people have kept records on objects made out of cords of cotton or (rarely) alpaca wool. These are called khipu.

A khipu consists, minimally, of a main cord, from which pendant cords hang. (pendants of pendants are called subsidiaries.) Its more significant features are knots tied in the pendant cords and other modifications of the pendant. Inka functionaries used khipus for censuses, inventories, tribute records, and receipts of transactions. In early colonial times, khipus also were accepted as valid documents by Spanish courts. In most known cases, the numerical system deciphered by Leland Locke in 1920 are used. Each knot (long knot twist) tied in the lower part of the pendant represents a unit, whereas the group of knots tied upwards of the pendant represent tens, hundreds, and thousands. In spite of the absence of an explicit symbol equivalent of the Arabic zero, khipu uses the true decimal system. Some cords represent totals or other arithmetical derivatives of pendant cord numbers. Additional variables are communicated by additional attributes of pendant cords such as colors or "S" or "Z" directions of twist in the cords or knots.

However, during the early colony well-informed writers say that unlike common khipus, certain khipus recorded poems or stories. How could cords represent the language? The huge khipu corpus described by the Aschers and studied by Urton and several others shows examples which differ from the arithmetical system, however the relation between language and cord remains obscure and constitutes a research frontier.

http://www.allperu.com/eng/frameset_paese.htm