UR1143/KH0159 - Catalog Information

Section Information
Statistics:
Original Name:   AS143
Original Author:  Marcia & Robert Ascher
Museum:  Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin, Germany
Museum Number:  VA47096
Provenance:  Ica
Region:  Unknown 		# of Cords:   30
# of Unique Cord Colors:  6
Benford Match:  0.9114
# Ascher Sums (pps, ips, cps, sps,...):  5 (0, 2, 3, 0,...)
Similar Khipu:  Previous (UR1120)  Next (UR1118)
   UR1143/KH0159
Indexed Pendant Sum
Colored Pendant Sum
DataFile:
UR1143
Notes:
Ascher Databook Notes:
  1. This is one of several khipus acquired by the Museum in 1907 with provenance Ica. For a list of them, see UR1100.
  2. By spacing, the khipu is separated into 2 parts. The first part is 5 groups of 4 or 5 pendants each and the second part is 4 groups of 2 pendants each.
  3. In part 1:
    1. Each group has the same 5-color pattern: B:YG, BB:YG, B, BB,YG. Where there are only 4 pendants, it is the 4th position that is non-existent.
    2. The values in the first group are the sums, position by position, of the values in the other 4 groups.
      \[ P_{1j} = \sum\limits_{i=2}^{5} P_{ij}\;\;\;for\;j=(1,2,3,4,5) \]
    3. The values within each group have the same relative magnitudes. Specifically

      Pi3 > Pi1 > Pi5 > Pi2 > Pi4         for i=(1,2,3,4,5)

    4. From group to group, corresponding positions have the same relative magnitudes. With 1 exception

      P1j > P4j > P3j ≥ P5j > P2j         for j=(1,2,3,4,5)

  4. In part 2:
    1. Each group has the same 2-color pattern: B:YG, BB:YG. These are the first 2 colors of the 5-color pattern of part 1.
    2. Every value is less than the values in part 1.
  5. The value on pendant 3 (97357) is probably the largest value on any khipu in this Databook.
Bibliography:

Bibliography for UR1143/KH0159:

Year Author Title Pages
2009 Artzi, Bat-Ami. The secret of the knot: khipu No. 936 from the Maiman collection. Masters thesis, Hebrew University. 53-54
1978 Ascher, Marcia, and Robert Ascher. Code of the Quipu: Databook. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor. 698; 921-924
1981 Ascher, Marcia, and Robert Ascher. Code of the Quipu: A Study in Media, Mathematics, and Culture. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor. 89; 144-145 (ex.7.6)
1983 Ascher, Marcia. The Logical-Numerical System of Inca Quipus. Annals of the History of Computing 5:268–278. DOI: 10.1109/MAHC.1983.10090 275-276
2005 Ascher, Marcia. How Can Spin, Ply, and Knot Direction Contribute to Understanding the Quipu Code? Latin American Antiquity 16(1):99–111. 101
2010 Chirinos Rivera, Andrés. Quipus del Tahuantinsuyo: Curacas, Incas y su saber matemático en el siglo XVI. Editorial Commentarios, Lima. 238; 276; 286-293; 340
1996 Christensen, Antje. The Peruvian quipu. In History and science of knots, edited by J. C. Turner and P. van de Griend, pp. 71-88. World Scientific, New Jersey. 83-84
2021 Medrano, Manuel. Knot Just Numbers: Mathematics and More in Andean Khipu Strings. Manuscript. 6
1996 Pereyra S., Hugo. Acerca de dos quipus con características numéricas excepcionales. Bulletin de l’Institut francais d’études Andins 25(2):203-231. 188; 193-202
2006 Pereyra Sánchez, Hugo. Descripción de los quipus del Museo de Sitio de Pachacamac. Consejo Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Tecnológica, Lima. 21
2024 Thompson, Karen M. A Numerical Connection Between Two Khipus. Ñawpa Pacha, pp.1-22. 20
1994 Urton, Gary. New Twist in an Old Yarn: Variation in Knot Directionality in the Inka Khipus. Baessler-Archiv Neue Folge 42:271-305. 298
2017 Urton, Gary. Inka History in Knots: Reading Khipus as Primary Sources. University of Texas Press, Austin. 261