Knot Direction in a Khipu/Alphabetic Text from the Central Andes. Issue 2 (June 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hyland, Sabine; Ware, Gene A.; Clark, Madison
• Is Part Of: Latin American antiquity. Volume 25:Issue 2(2014)
• Page Start: 189
• Page End: 197
• Publication Date: 2014-06
• Subjects: Indians of Mexico -- Antiquities -- Periodicals; Indians of Central America -- Antiquities -- Periodicals; Indians of South America -- Antiquities -- Periodicals; Latin America -- Antiquities -- Periodicals; 918
• DOI: 10.7183/1045-6635.25.2.189
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1045-6635

Abstract

Abstract : Khipus are knotted-string devices that were used in the Inka Empire for communication and for recording information. We recently analyzed the names and associated khipu cords in a newly discovered hybrid khipul alphabetic text from the Central Andes. Results indicate a significant relationship in the text between knot direction and a form of social organization known as moieties, in which S-knots correspond to the upper (Hanan) moiety and Z-knots correspond to the lower (Urin) moiety. This relationship suggests that knot direction was used to indicate moiety in Andean khipus and, as such, may represent the first decipherment of a structural element in khipus since the decoding of the number system in the 1920s.