Human Hair in 500-Year-Old Knotted Cord Rewrites What We Knew About Literacy in the Inca Empire

Human Hair in 500-Year-Old Knotted Cord Rewrites What We Knew About Literacy in the Inca Empire

An unassuming strand challenges centuries of assumptions about Inca literacy

Hair strand stuck in ancient device could change what’s known about Inca civilisation

Hair reveals person who made device ate an ordinary commoner’s diet

Ancient Incans of all classes used coded strings of hair for record keeping – new research

The author studying a khipu. Author provided, CC BY-SAThe people of the ancient Incan empire kept careful records of their economics, religion, demographics and history. Those records took the form of knotted cords called khipus. Until now, researchers believed that the only people who knew how to make khipus in the Inca empire (circa 1400-1532) were very elite, high-status officials. With little direct evidence about the Inca khipu experts, res…

New Details Emerge About Ancient Inca Counting Technology

A new study challenges widespread notions about khipus, intricate cord and knot information-recording systems, based on Spanish colonial-era sources.

An Inca man's hair, measuring 104 centimeters, could compel the inscription desk to write his name once again

Sabine Hyland was amazed by the stunning braiding and intricate design of the chipo, a cord used by the Inca elite to keep track of cosmic...