It is difficult to learn much about the history of the Incas as they didn't have any written records. Or did they? It is possible that there are more secrets locked away in their knotted strings called "Quipu". Although it's also possible there was no actual writing system too. The Quipu are knotted strings for collecting data, keeping records, calendrical information, monitoring tax, census records, and military organization.

They were used by a number of cultures in the Andean region of South America (similar systems were also used by ancient Japanese, Chinese, and Tibetans). The Quipu is another of the many marvels the Inca have left behind - another being their famous road network.

Development and History of Quipus

Quipus date back to around 2600 BC and were used throughout the Inca reign over the Andes. The Incas were not the first to use them and they have been found to date 4,000 years before the Incas showed up. They were a very effective and universal method of communication in a region that spoke many different languages.

  • Older than The Inca: Quipus Predate the Inca by Around 4,000 Years

This may sound boring, but often the driving force behind the development of written language was accounting. It was accounting and taxation that first drove the written record in the Fertile Crescent.

  • Development of Writing: Driven by Taxation and Accounting

Unfortunately, only a few Quipu have survived today there is an estimated 600 quipu surviving in museums and private collections around the world today. It is known that many more quipus may still exist being stored away in mausoleums.

Some argued that after the Spanish took over the Incas, quipus were actively destroyed. But the real story seems to be more complicated. The Spanish did destroy some of them seeing them as idolatrous, but they also promoted the adaptation of the quipu recording system to suit the needs of their new colonial governance. Priests even advocated the use of them for ecclesiastical purposes.

In the early years following the Spanish conquest of the Inca, the Spanish used them to settle disputes over local tribute payments and for other uses.

Related: Where The Lost City Of Vilcabamba Is (And It's Not The Same As Machu Picchu)

Deciphering The Quipu

The colors, knots, and even the distances between the knots enabled people to identify the type of object or the characteristics of the population being recorded.

  • Quipucamayocs: The Name For The Inca Specialist Officials Who Handled The Quipus
  • Decimal: The Inca Counting System was Decimal

Museo Larco states that it was possible to distinguish between the information being recorded - like men or women, the type of work and production. Some of the large ones even seem to have functioned a bit like a calendar recording information about communities over time.

Unfortunately, while how they worked numerically is well known, much of the knowledge has been lost and there could be more information in these systems that we are still missing today.

One theory is that other features (like color) could represent non-numeric information. If this is true, then it has not been deciphered. It is generally accepted that the system did not incorporate phonetic symbols (like letters of the Alphabet). But still, some have advocated that they could encode linguistic as well as numerical information.

  • Non-Numerical Information: Some Prominent Scholars Claim That They Encode None Numerical Information As Well

Some scholars have claimed to have found a pattern that seems to decipher some words by matching knots to colors of the strings of the quipu. If they do include non-numerical information they are still highly unlikely to be a developed writing system.

Related: What You Need To Know About Hiking The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

Where To See Quipus

Today quipus are on display all around the world in museums, here are a few museums where one can see them for oneself.

Inca quipus are on display in that Museo Larco in Lima, Peru. One will find them in Room 5, Vitrine 58, and are of the Imperial Epoch (1300 d.C. – 1532 d.C.) of highland Peru.

  • Museo Larco: Has Quipus On Display in Lima, Peru

A Quipu dating from 1430 to 1530 in the collection of the British Museum in London - the British Museum is home to some of the ancient world's most priceless treasures. They note on their website:

"It is possible, though not yet proven, that [the Quipu] also record other kinds of information or genealogies, the agricultural calendar and perhaps even narrative traditions, all of which await decipherment. The knotting technique used on the [Quipu] illustrated here indicates that it may be a 'narrative' type."

  • British Museum: Has A Quipu In Their Collection In London, England

Over in America, the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian also has a quipu. The quipu in the Smithsonian is one of 137 million artifacts, works of art, and specimens in the Smithsonian's collection. It is currently on display in the exhibition "Infinity of Nations" in their Heye Center in New York City.

  • Smithsonian: Has A Quipu On Display In New York City

Next: Introduction To The Inca Sacred Valley: Home Of Machu Picchu, Cusco, And The Heart Of The Empire