Inca quipu
Quipu: registro numérico decimal posicional con nudos
- Date
- c. 1400 · confidence medium
- Place
- Cuzco, Peru
- Credited to
- Inca administration (khipukamayuq); Wari precedents
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
Knotted cords that encode numbers in positional base 10 through the types and positions of knots, used for censuses, tribute and storehouses in an empire without writing.
It is debated whether some quipus also encode non-numerical narrative information.
What it led to
- Andean state accounting
Built on
- Quipu (knotted-string record)c. 800 CE
- Wari quipus (c. 700)
Made possible
- Tupu and Inca measuresc. 1450
- administration of the Tahuantinsuyo (Inca Empire)