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KF5JRV > TECH 21.06.16 23:38l 41 Lines 1937 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 4884_KF5JRV
Read: GUEST
Subj: Khipu decoded?
Path: IW8PGT<CX2SA<N0KFQ<KF5JRV
Sent: 160621/2221Z 4884@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQK1.4.65
The First Intelligible Word from an Extinct South American Civilization?
On August 12, 2005 anthropologists Gary Urton and Carrie Brezine published
"Khipu Accounting in Ancient Peru," Science 309(2005)1065 - 1067.
"Khipu [quipu] are knotted-string devices that were used for bureaucratic
recording and communication in the Inka [Inca] Empire. We recently undertook
a computer analysis of 21 khipu from the Inka administrative center of
Puruchuco, on the central coast of Peru. Results indicate that this khipu
archive exemplifies the way in which census and tribute data were synthesized,
manipulated, and transferred between different accounting levels in the Inka
administrative system" (Science).
"Researchers in the US believe they have come closer to solving a
centuries-old mystery - by deciphering knotted string used by the ancient Incas.
"Experts say one bunch of knots appears to identify a city, marking the first
intelligible word from the extinct South American civilisation.
"The coloured, knotted pieces of string,known as khipu, are believed to have
been used for accounting information.
"The researchers say the finding could unlock the meaning of other khipu.
"Harvard University researchers Gary Urton and Carrie Brezine used computers
to analyse 21 khipu.
"They found a three-knot pattern in some of the strings which they believe
identifies the bunch as coming from the city of Puruchuco, the site of an
Inca palace.
" 'We hypothesize that the arrangement of three figure-eight knots at the
start of these khipu represented the place identifier, or toponym, Puruchuco,'
they wrote in their report, published in the journal Science.
" 'We suggest that any khipu moving within the state administrative system
bearing an initial arrangement of three figure-eight knots would have been
immediately recognisable to Inca administrators as an account pertaining to
the palace of Puruchuco.'.
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