Quipus
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2020-05-06T15:34:11-07:00
Quipu (also spelled khipu) were multicolored braided cords, used historically in the Inca Empire and other Andean South American cultures to send messages on foot over large distances. In Color, A Natural History of the Palette author Victoria Finlay writes: "Every color and knot meant something different. So a black string represented time, yellow was gold, and blue referred to the sky and-- by extension-- the gods... it was life, power and death all bound up in a single piece of string." These cords carried vital coded information, passed from runner to runner to get to their destination-- and they are probably the closest ancestor to the knitting data projects you will see next!
Resources to learn more at USC Libraries:
Color : A Natural History of The Palette
Signs of the Inka Khipu : binary coding in the Andean knotted-string records
The cord keepers khipus and cultural life in a Peruvian village
Narrative threads : accounting and recounting in Andean Khipu
