The Incan quipus

DOI10.1023/A:1020835926872MaRDI QIDQ1868164zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Antje Christensen

Publication date 27 April 2003

Published in Synthese (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1020835926872

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

History of mathematics of the indigenous cultures of the Americas (01A12)

Review text

Quipus are a most intriguing element of the Inca civilization. The original use of these structured knotted cotton or wool cords are yet object of discussion. It seems they were registry systems, with quantitative and qualitative information, used for bureaucratic-administrative purposes. This paper, based mainly on the already classical studies of \textit{M. Ascher} and \textit{R. Ascher} [Code of the quipu. Ann Arbor: Michigan Univ. Press (1981; Zbl 0585.01001)] and of \textit{G. Urton} [The Social Life of Numbers. Austin: Univ. Texas Press (1997)], gives an interesting and well organized exposition of the quipus. The paper begins with a very brief historical introduction and then proceeds to describe the quipus, the way they are constructed, and their arithmetical content.

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(7)

• Mathematics, astronomy and sacred landscape in the Inka heartland
• Aztec castles and the dP3 quiver
• Before the Conquest
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