Formerly, on the Andean highlands, there was a form of non -alphabetical writing which is not like any other: the quipus (du Quechua “Khipu”which means node), a system based on cords knotted, used by the Incas to record and transmit information.
Scientists knew that these ingenious devices were used for communication in various forms, but their exact function has long remained enigmatic. For years, relegated behind the museum windows, these intriguing objects have remained largely inaccessible.
But a recent advance could change the game, explains the media The Debrief. Thanks to the exceptional access to an unprecedented collection of nearly 100 quipus, preserved by the indigenous community of Santa Leonor de Jucul, in Peru, the researcher Sabine Hyland, professor at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, revealed new tracks on the role of quipuses in Inca society.
Tell the climate with knots
Within this collection, the researcher discovered a 68 -meter -long quipu, the largest ever observed. “Radiocarbon dating reveals that hair woven in the Quipu allows you to date the artefacts at around 1480 AD” “underlines The Debrief.
Contrary to the idea that the quipuses were used only to account for resources or to record tax data, the Jucul collection shows much wider use. According to Sabine Hyland, these artifacts contain the details of the climatic events of the ancient Peruvian Empire. The professor identified information relating to periods of drought, seasonal variations and, above all, the social and religious reactions that accompanied them. Some quipus, for example, reveal that offerings were made in a sacred place associated with rain during periods of drought.
In the Incan Civilization, Quipu (also spelled khipu) was a sophisticated system of knoted strings used to record information. While Quipus Are Often Associated With Accounting, Census Data, and Tribute Records, They Were also used for astronomical purposes, Particularly in the… pic.twitter.com/rrhyscwok5
– Archaeohistories (@histories_arch) May 7, 2025
The most surprising discovery perhaps concerns the very authors of these quipuses: some seemed to sign their creations by braiding a wick of their hair in the cords.
But even more, the analysis of this hair made it possible to reconstruct the diet of their carriers: little or no meat and few fermented corn, food reserved for the elite. These persipus were therefore manufactured not by scribes or imperial officials, but by outbuildings.
This advance is a major perspective reversal. Indeed, she suggests that writing in the form of a quipu was shared within local communities and not confined to the spheres of power. “This old form of string writing was much more widespread in society than we thought before”concludes Sabine Hyland’s study.
