Posted on 06/28/2014 1:47:12 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Quipus where used as a form of record-keeping in Inca society, which had no written language.
A set of twenty-five well-preserved quipus were found in the archaeological complex of Incahuasi, south of Lima, Alejandro Chu, archaeologist in charge of the site reported on Tuesday.
Chu told Andina News Agency that this is a major finding as the quipus were found in warehouses or kallancas and not in a funerary context, as most discoveries in the past, “what makes us believe they were used for administrative purposes”.
According to the Peruvian archaeologist, these objects, used by the Inca empire and previous societies in the Andean region, have different sizes the longest measures 3 meters and they have multiple knotted strings of different colors.
Incahuasi or Inca house, located 29.5 kilometers south to the Cañete-Lunahuana highway- is the most important and strategic city built by the Incas in the valley of Lunahuana.
Quipus
With no written language, the Inca devised a tool for recording the movement of people and goods. A quipu is essentially a group of wool and cotton strings tied together.
The strings are dyed in many different colors, and they are joined together in many different manners and they have a wide variety and number of knots tied in them. Together the type of wool, the colors, the knots and the joins hold information that was once readable by several South American societies.
Many of these quipus were destroyed by the Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century, but approximately 200 of them dating no earlier than about 650 AD have been found.
Although archaeologists do not all agree about the function of the knotted strings, one fairly compelling argument is that the quipu was a method of record keeping.
(Excerpt) Read more at peruthisweek.com ...
I got some of them. My cat got bored and went into the old ladies knittin’, bag. I have to study them.
Looks like someone’s macrame project from summer camp.
Lol!
The major factor in the European conquest of the Incas were bacteria and viruses. Diseases killed a LOT more Indians than the Spanish, in fact the germs beat the Spanish to Peru, precipitating a civil war of succession that was in full swing when they arrived.
Also, the Inca, much like the Aztecs, were a relatively new and barbaric people who had conquered and were exploiting much older and more civilized peoples. They saw the arriving Europeans as an opportunity to throw off their overlords, with their small numbers meaning they were no real threat to replace them.
Big mistake on their part, as it turned out. But most of the actual overthrowing of the Aztecs and Inca was done by their rebelling subjects.
If they never learned to write, why would they be Incas instead of Knottas?
Talk about a fallen people. No written language?
LOL...
Tastes like chicken that has been left waiting in the ER too long! :-)(
You mean...
It WASN’T “Aliens”?
You opine - “ Inquiring minds should want to know.” - in your assertion that the peoples here, at the time of the conquistadors - were ignorant knot tiers compared to the brilliant minds in Europe.
Yeah - ignorant savages. that’s what the whites claimed and maintained - to back up “Manifest Destiny” aka, justification for slaughtering and confiscation.
Yet, when the conquistadors first saw the cities in Central/South America - they marveled that they surpassed any seen in their home countries at the time. (So, of course, they set about destroying it all - AND burned/destroyed their books - so we have precious little to ascertain just HOW developed they really were. Some books, however, escaped or were hidden by a priest and spirited to Europe - like the ‘Dresden Codex”
then again, there’s the mathematics - based on a system of 20 rather than 10 - and their astronomy so accurate, they were off only about 19 minutes a year - we are STILL off a full day every 4 years. (ergo: Leap Year)
They had vast and sophisticated ways to bring the yearly rains down off the mountains, traveling many miles, to furnish the towns with water, Their engineering involving the growing terraces, watering etc, are a marvel - etc -
There are many discoveries that still boggle our mind as to “how and why?”
REAL “Inquiring minds should want to know..” the hows and why’s of these things in evidence.
One might wonder “What might have been had the Europeans not been so hell bent on gold, glory and power”
http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/civil/maya/mmc07eng.shtml
you say: “...about finding an ancient computer and electricity in the pyramids. I need proof.”
Well, this wasn’t found in the pyramids - however... (We are continually finding things that should make us realize that there have been sophisticated civilizations that once flourished - and were destroyed - and vast amounts of information lost, setting ‘civilization back centuries each time. One can only wonder how much knowledge was lost in the burning of the libraries of Alexandria - and one can wonder “2,000-3,000 years from now, will someone uncover evidence that was once a free country named America?”
The ancient computer -
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/ancient-computer.html
They recorded how much Ovaltine the Incas drank. More! More! More! They had been told to drink more Ovaltine, and they tried, and they kept records of their feats, but in the end it was just not enough.
There should be a quip in that title somewhere......
Leni
I saw a show recently about a man trying to find the lost library of Ivan the Terrible. There have been terrible losses over the years. Someone was trying to find The Holy Grail. Some think it was a space rock. Have you heard about the Guideline Stones in GA? They are weird.
You would be interested to know that the Italians are trying to figure out what to do with an entire Roman library found at a posh villa in Herculaneum. Burned to a crisp, of course ... so, how do we read it all those lost classics ... what we have is a drop in the bucket.
‘Maybe the IRS liars are actually Incas...leaving no record behind.’
Maybe the Incas were into bondage.
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