Catalog: KH0035 (UR1033A, AS033A)

Section Information
Statistics:
Aliases:   UR1033A, AS033A
Contributors:  Marcia & Robert Ascher
Museum:  Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
Museum Number:  41.52.30/293B
Provenance:  Unknown
Region:  Unknown 		# of Groups & Cords:   1 Groups, 12 Cords - 12p
# of Unique Cord Colors:  4
Benford Match:  0.2772
# Ascher Sums (pps, ips, cps, sps,...):  0 (0, 0, 0, 0,...)
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   KH0035 (UR1033A, AS033A)
DataFile:
KH0035
Notes:
Ascher Databook Notes:
  1. Construction note: R/W does not represent R joined to W. The color R alternately appears and disappears on the single cord.
  2. A photograph of AS033 is in Ascher (1975).
  3. Khipu KH0035-KH0041 form a collection of 7 khipus that were connected together. The main cords of KH0035, KH0039, and KH0041 were tied together to form a circle.
    Suspended from them were their own pendant cords and the khipus numbered KH0036, KH0037, KH0038, and KH0040. The connections were complex.
  4. The colors used in the collection show some similarity. GG appears only on KH0036, LC appears only on KH0037, and BB appears only on KH0039.
    However, AB, AB/W, or AB:W appear on KH0035 and B, E, F, G; R or R/W appears on KH0035 and B, D, G; and CB appears on KH0035 and G.
  5. The khipus in the collection share the following features: groups separated by space, uniform in size, united by color pattern, and with low values.

    • KH0036-6 groups of 3, color consistent with position, values 2-10.
    • KH0037--7 groups of 2, color consistent with position, values 0-3.
    • KH0038--10 groups of 2, color related to position, values 0-6; higher values on sum cords (16, 30, 24, 36, 60).
    • KH0039-2 groups of 2, values 0-4; some higher values (32, 47).
    • KH0040--2 groups of 10, color consistent with position, values 3-14; sum cord (47).
    • KH0041--2 groups, colors same within each group, values 0-13; and two other cords with higher values (10, 22, 35, 37).

  6. The higher values on KH0039 and G could be related to sums of values on other khipus as follows. The values:

    • 47 : Sum of W cords on KH0040 and sum value on KH0040;
    • 32, 47 : Sum of values in first position in groups on KH0036, sum of values in third position in groups on KH0036;
    • 22 : Sum of all values on KH0037.
Bibliography:

Bibliography for KH0035 (UR1033A, AS033A):

Year Author Title Pages
1975 Ascher, Marcia and Robert Ascher. Quipu as a visible language. Visible Language 9(4):329-356. Figures: fig.13 (p.354)
1978 Ascher, Marcia, and Robert Ascher. Code of the Quipu: Databook. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor. Text: 154-155
1981 Ascher, Marcia, and Robert Ascher. Code of the Quipu: A Study in Media, Mathematics, and Culture. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor. Text: 15; 68; Figures: 10; pl.4.6 (p.73)
1995 Ascher, Marcia and Robert Ascher. Civilization without writing : the Incas and the Quipu. In: Communication in history : technology, culture, society / edited by David Crowley, Paul Heyer. Boston, Mass.: Allyn and Bacon ; London : Pearson Education [distributor], 2011, p. 36-43 Figures: 37
1986 Ascher, Marcia. Mathematical Ideas of the Incas.’ In Native American Mathematics, edited by Michael P. Closs, pp. 261–289. University of Texas Press, Austin. Figures: fig.10.6 (p.276)
2014 Cherkinsky, Alexander, and Gary Urton. Radiocarbon Chronology of Andean Khipus. Open Journal of Archaeometry 2(5260):32-36. Text: 34
2025 FitzPatrick, Mackinley. Primary Questions: A Survey of Inka-Style Khipu Primary Cords. PREPRINT. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/hqkcj_v1 Text: 7, 8
2019 Milillo, Lucrezia. Andean khipus in Italian collections - Morphological description and ethnohistorical investigation. Masters thesis, School of Humanities, University of Bologna. Text: 84-85; Figures: fig.44 (p.85)
2020 Pancorvo Salicetti, Anel, (editor). Quipus y quipucamayoc: Codificación y administración en el antiguo Perú. Apus Graph Ediciones, Lima. Salicetti, Anel, (editor). Quipus y quipucamayoc: Codificación y administración en el antiguo Perú. Apus Graph Ediciones, Lima. Text: 440; Figures: 441
2024 Pierre Louis, Gusnie. Reflecting on Khipu Studies in the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology: Khipu 41-52-30/2938. In Situ: News and Events of the Harvard Standing Committee on Archaeology, Spring 2024:27-28. Text: throughout; Figures: fig.12 (p.27); fig.13-15 (p.28)
2009 Quave, Kylie. Confronting Anomaly in the Khipu Structure: Cultural and Individual Variations from Two Museum Collections. In Actas: IV Jornadas Internacionales sobre Textiles Precolombinos, edited by Victòria Solanilla Demestre, pp. 241-251. Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona, Barcelona. Text: 245
2013 Salomon, Frank. The Twisting Paths of Recall: Khipu (Andean cord notation) as artifact. In Writing as Material Practice: Substance, surface and medium, edited by Kathryn E. Piquette and Ruth D. Whitehouse, pp. 15-43. Ubiquity Press, London. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/bai.b Text: 37; Figures: fig.24 (p.38)
2017 Urton, Gary. Inka History in Knots: Reading Khipus as Primary Sources. University of Texas Press, Austin. Text: 263
2007 Witkowski, Olaf. Essai de décryptage des cordelettes quipus utilisées par les Incas comme moyen de communication: Un exemple d’ethno-cryptographie (Doctoral dissertation, Master’s thesis, Université Catholique de Louvain). Text: 85, 97