Rights management: Linden-Museum Stuttgart
Attribution - NonCommercial - NoDerivs 4.0 International
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This collection item does not have a name in the language of origin. If you know the name or have comments, use this form to contact the data-providing institution.
Knotted cord, quipu or khipu
The knotted cords known as "quipu" or "khipu" were always constructed according to the same system. On a main line there were secondary lines attached, which could run down and also up. To these, in turn, other cords were sometimes attached. The lines themselves had knots tied into them, which represented higher values the closer they were to the main line. The Incas also used the decimal system. So the knots represented tens, hundreds, thousands or tens of thousands of units. Possibly even higher values were recorded. The Incas documented with the "quipu" numbers like tribute payments and censuses but also narratives or ruler genealogies. In order to record different things in the "quipu", different colours and knots were used. We now understand how to read the numbers and their hierarchies. However, we still do not know what the documented figures were about.
- Data Provider
- Linden-Museum Stuttgart Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde Show original at data provider
Cataloguing data
- Cultural attribution
- Inka-Kultur
- Object type
- Knotenschrift
- Dimensions
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Length: 45 cm
Width: 38 cm - Material/Technique
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Cotton
Yarn, knotted
- Current location
- Linden-Museum Stuttgart
- Inventory number
- 069195
Provenance and sources
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Assignment to a curated holding:
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Production
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when
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15th - 16th century AD.
-
-
Change of physical control or legal title
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where
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Peru
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Change of physical control
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when
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1911
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- Provenance
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There is no known provenance for this object.
Information about the record
- Legal status metadata
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED
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