Chile under the Inka Empire – 2009
Quipu. Fibra de camélido. Inka. Mollepampa, valle de LLuta. MCHAP
Quipu. Fibra de camélido. Inka. Playa Miller, costa de Arica. CMBE
Quipus
THIS ARICA QUIPU IS CONSIDERED ONE OF THE LARGEST AND MOST COMPLEX OF TAWANTINSUYU
Quipus were used mainly to gather and store information of interest to the Inka State. They were kept by the quipukamayoc, functionaries who traveled the empire auditing labor tributes or mita, as well as the production of agricultural goods and livestock, textiles, ceramics and a multitude of other items used by the central administration and state religion. Numerical information was represented in a hierarchical decimal system that was encoded in the number, type and position of the knots tied on the main and secondary cords. This quipu was found in an Inka cemetery in the Lluta valley. It has a total of 586 cords, organized into eight sectors of ten groups of cords and up to thirteen levels of hierarchy. The numerical values represented reach as high as 15,024 units of different items, which identities we are yet unable to decipher. However, the ordering of numerical values has led some researchers to suggest that this quipu could store information from a census and tribute tally conducted for the population of Inka subjects in the Arica region, towards the end of the Empire.