Mystery · Ancient Technology
Records Tied in Knots
Inca khipu (quipu)
The question
Inca officials kept bundles of knotted cords like these. What were they for?
- Mending fishing nets
- Decorating festival clothes
- Recording numbers and accounts(correct answer)
The answer: Recording numbers and accounts
A khipu (or quipu) is a long main cord with many hanging cords tied with knots. Andean peoples used them as accounting devices, and Inca administrators recorded statistics such as taxes, census data and storehouse inventories. The type of knot and its position on a cord usually recorded a number in a decimal system, with an empty spot meaning zero.
- Civilization
- Inca Empire and earlier Andean peoples
- Region
- South America
- Period
- Used until the fall of the Inca Empire (1532)
- Location
- Andes, South America
- Featured in
- Daily Discovery #008 · 9 November 2026
Image: Cleveland Museum of Art (1940.469), CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (image source, opens in a new tab)
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