anaivana
16.04.2007., 16:17
Quipu - An Inca Counting System
Imagine, if you will, a highly advanced civilization. This civilization rules over a million or more people, they built vast cities, developed extensive road systems, treated their citizens fairly and constructed stone walls so tight not even a knife blade can pass between the huge boulders. Now imagine being able to do all this without a written language.
This was the ancient South American civilization of the Inca Empire. A highly developed civilization able to track all important facts required to rule such a vast empire. They did this using a memory tool made of knotted strings called a quipu. The men in charge of maintaining the quipu were known as "quipu camayocs" or "keeper of the quipu."
Since they had no written language and very few ancient quipu are left, we can only speculate what the quipu was actually used for. It's fortunate quipu are still used today, so we may be able to learn about the ancient ones by seeing how the modern ones are used. Combine this with oral traditions and it appears they were used to keep records on the number of things.
Another mystery which remains is, what base did the Inca use ? All their neighbors used a base 60, but it appears the Inca used base 10. Recent discoveries, as yet unsubstantiated, back this theory. For our purpose, we will assume it was base 10.
Making a quipu was easy. Thin strings were looped around a larger cord. Knots of colored thread or string were then tied around the thinner strings. Where the knots were placed indicated the value. The closer to the large cord a knot was placed, the greater its value. They way a knot was tied and the color used may be significant, but without a written language, we just don't know.
Some quipu found were several feet in length, so it was very important for the quipu camayocs to remember the who, where and what of each string and its placement on the larger cord
Contributed by Steven Tuck
References.
McIntyre, Loren. The Lost Empire of the Incas, National Geographic, Dec. 1973, 729 - 766.
A što je bilo stvarno?
Imagine, if you will, a highly advanced civilization. This civilization rules over a million or more people, they built vast cities, developed extensive road systems, treated their citizens fairly and constructed stone walls so tight not even a knife blade can pass between the huge boulders. Now imagine being able to do all this without a written language.
This was the ancient South American civilization of the Inca Empire. A highly developed civilization able to track all important facts required to rule such a vast empire. They did this using a memory tool made of knotted strings called a quipu. The men in charge of maintaining the quipu were known as "quipu camayocs" or "keeper of the quipu."
Since they had no written language and very few ancient quipu are left, we can only speculate what the quipu was actually used for. It's fortunate quipu are still used today, so we may be able to learn about the ancient ones by seeing how the modern ones are used. Combine this with oral traditions and it appears they were used to keep records on the number of things.
Another mystery which remains is, what base did the Inca use ? All their neighbors used a base 60, but it appears the Inca used base 10. Recent discoveries, as yet unsubstantiated, back this theory. For our purpose, we will assume it was base 10.
Making a quipu was easy. Thin strings were looped around a larger cord. Knots of colored thread or string were then tied around the thinner strings. Where the knots were placed indicated the value. The closer to the large cord a knot was placed, the greater its value. They way a knot was tied and the color used may be significant, but without a written language, we just don't know.
Some quipu found were several feet in length, so it was very important for the quipu camayocs to remember the who, where and what of each string and its placement on the larger cord
Contributed by Steven Tuck
References.
McIntyre, Loren. The Lost Empire of the Incas, National Geographic, Dec. 1973, 729 - 766.
A što je bilo stvarno?