The Ancient Quipu, Plate XXIII

What it is

This is Plate XXIII from The Ancient Quipu, A Peruvian Knot Record, a book by Leslie Leland Locke. The plate is a line diagram rather than a photograph. Many vertical cords hang from horizontal top strands, and the knots are drawn as tens, hundreds and thousands symbols, with numbers printed above and below. Labels reading Ones, Tens, Hundreds, Thousands and Location Chancay appear at the left and bottom. A caption identifies the quipu as American Museum of Natural History B8713. The record dates the plate to 1 April 1912.

Why it matters

Quipus were the Inca system for recording numbers and other information with knots. Diagrams like this one tried to show how the knot values were arranged, helping scholars compare objects. The Chancay location in the label shows that quipus were found across the region, not only at Inca centers. Quipus were part of the administration of the empire Atahualpa ruled. This is a 1912 scholarly drawing, not an Inca original.

Look closer

• How do the labels for ones, tens, hundreds and thousands help a reader understand the cords?
• Why would a scholar draw a quipu rather than photograph it, and what does the drawing show or hide?
• Who decided how the knots should be read, and how sure can we be of that reading?