Quipus
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