Human Hair-Based Recordkeeping Was Widespread in Incan Empire

Human hair-based recordkeeping was widespread in Incan Empire

Recordkeeping wasn’t a mundane statistical task in the Incan empire—it was an artform. Instead of solely relying on scribes to maintain ledgers on subjects like trade, agricultural yields, and labor, the ancient South American culture also turned to a documentation tool called the khipu. Each khipu works like its own spreadsheet, with several knotted cords representing decimal numbers that are all hung from an anchor cord woven from human hair. …

Human hair khipus reveal Inca record-keeping was used by both elites and commoners

A recently studied 500-year-old Inca khipu (Quipu) has overturned assumptions about who created these intricate thread-based documents. The study, published in Science Advances, suggests that khipus—formerly thought to be the domain of high-level imperial officials—were also made by non-elite members of society. Khipus were the Inca Empire’s unique system of record-keeping. Comprising a main cord […]

Inca Khipus Were Used By Commoners, Not Just The Elite - Previously Unknown Evidence Discovered - Ancient Pages

Jan Bartek - AncientPages.com - Before the birth of databases and spreadsheets, people employed various methods to track information, one of which was the khipu. This fascinating record-keeping system consisted of a cord made from human hair, with additional cords and knots representing decimal numbers. Khipus were prevalent among the elite individuals in the Inca […]