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Khipu

Groups: X, Y X= 10 x A (A= 21 pendants) Y = 10 x B (B= 10 pendants) Colors: browns Colour combinations: monochrome, speckled Strings: main, pendants, Ply: all S Diameter: main 4mm, pendants 1-2mm Verso (tying pendant to mainstring): Knots: 1/1 and 1/2 endknots. Only one of the groups has other than endknots : longknots (Z) and 8. Extra description in German: Fragment of a quipu from Pachacamac, which is dated approximately to the period between 1400 and 1532. The quipu was made of cotton. Its medium brown main strand is twisted in an S-shape and has a diameter of 4 mm. Starting from the first pendant string to the opposite end of the fragment, it has a length of 1.53 metres. The pendant strings themselves are attached "verso" to the main strand and show lengths between 24.5 and 41 cm and diameters between 1 and 2 mm. They can be divided into two main groups, each with 10 smaller groups. The first main group shows both light-coloured and medium brown s-shaped twisted, monochrome cords. The individual sub-groupings are arranged at intervals of 6-7 cm and each consist of 21 pendant strings. They show a special colour scheme in which, starting with a light brown string, two light strings always follow one dark string. The last pendant string of a sub-grouping is, like the first, light brown in colour. The second main group of pendant strings is attached to the main string at a distance of 24 cm. This shows, approximately at 1.5 cm intervals, groupings consisting of 7 s-twisted cords each. The first nine groupings are made entirely of dark brown cotton fibre, the tenth of medium brown cotton fibre. The cords of the second main group are on average longer than those of the first.

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Data Provider
Ethnologisches Museum
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Cataloguing data

Object type
Khipu
Dimensions
Länge x Breite: 43 x 162 cm
Material/Technique
Cotton
Current location
Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Inventory number
V A 42538

Provenance and sources

when
Inca 1400 - 1550
where
Peru
Pachacámac
who
Julius van der Zypen

who
Wilhelm Gretzer (1847 - 1926) - Collectors

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