The Ancient Quipu, Plate XXIV

What it is

This is Plate XXIV from The Ancient Quipu, A Peruvian Knot Record, a book by Leslie Leland Locke published in 1912. The plate is a black-and-white photograph of a khipu, an Andean knotted-cord record, on a dark background. White cords hang from a top attachment point and fan downward. Knots are tied along them, and pendant cords end in loose fringed ends. The record dates the plate to 4 January 1912.

Why it matters

Quipus were the Inca system for recording information with knots on cords. Locke's book was an early study of them in English-language scholarship. Quipus were part of the administration of the empire Atahualpa ruled, so this plate gives context on that system. It shows a 1912 scholar's photograph, not an Inca original from Atahualpa's time.

Look closer

• How do the cords fan out from the top, and what might that layout have helped people do?
• Who would have read or made a quipu like this, and what does the book not tell us?
• What is lost when a three-dimensional cord record is shown as a flat photograph?