UR1145/KH0161 - Catalog Information

Section Information
Statistics:
Original Name:   AS145
Original Author:  Marcia & Robert Ascher
Museum:  Museum für Völkerkunde,
Museum Number:  VA42533
Provenance:  Pachacamac
Region:  Unknown 		# of Cords:   90 (88p, 2s)
# of Unique Cord Colors:  4
Benford Match:  0.8554
# Ascher Sums (pps, ips, cps, sps,...):  26 (19, 5, 2, 0,...)
Similar Khipu:  Previous (UR1144)  Next (UR1130)
   UR1145/KH0161
Pendant Pendant Sum
Indexed Pendant Sum
Colored Pendant Sum
DataFile:
UR1145
Notes:
Ascher Databook Notes:
  1. A pendant fragment stored with the khipu was assumed to be part of pendant 37. Pendant 37 is broken at 16.0 cm.
  2. A pendant fragment stored with the khipu was assumed to be part of subsidiary 84s1 The subsidiary is broken at 10.5 cm.
  3. This is one of several khipus acquired by the Museum in 1907 with provenance Pachacamac. For a list of them, see UR1097.
  4. By spacing and color patterning, the khipu is separated in to 3 parts. The first part is one pair of pendants; the second is 4 groups of 7 pendants each; and the last part is 4 groups of 14 or 16 pendants each.
  5. The khipu has 2 different knot cluster arrangements. One is the standard arrangement involving single knot clusters and long knot clusters. The other arrangement is only long knot clusters in one or more of 3 distinct positions on a cord. For convenience, call the former S and the latter N. The S and N arrangements are alternated on the khipu. In part 2, pendants in groups 1 and 3 are all N while in groups 2 and 4, they are all S. In part 3, within each group, the pendants alternate N, S, N, S, etc. The color patterning reinforces the alternation: in part 2, in groups 1 and 3, all pendants are B and in groups 2 and 4, they are DB; in part 3, in the first 2 groups, the colors alternate LC, DB-W, and in the next 2 groups, they alternate LC or B, DB-W. Thus, the knot arrangements and colors alternate together so that the N arrangement is associated with B or LC and the S arrangement with DB or DB-W.
  6. Some of the values on the pendants in groups 1 and 3 of part 2 sum to each other. Two relationships are repeated for pendants 3 positions apart. Namely:

    P3i + P3,i+1 = P1i           for i=(1,4)

    P3i + P1i = 2 P3,i-1         for i=(4,7)
Bibliography:

Bibliography for UR1145/KH0161:

Year Author Title Pages
1978 Ascher, Marcia, and Robert Ascher. Code of the Quipu: Databook. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor. 680; 930-935
1981 Ascher, Marcia, and Robert Ascher. Code of the Quipu: A Study in Media, Mathematics, and Culture. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor. 122-123 (ex.6.7)
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. 283
2005 Ascher, Marcia. How Can Spin, Ply, and Knot Direction Contribute to Understanding the Quipu Code? Latin American Antiquity 16(1):99–111. 110
2006 Pereyra Sánchez, Hugo. Descripción de los quipus del Museo de Sitio de Pachacamac. Consejo Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Tecnológica, Lima. 14
1994 Urton, Gary. New Twist in an Old Yarn: Variation in Knot Directionality in the Inka Khipus. Baessler-Archiv Neue Folge 42:271-305. 296
2014 Urton, Gary. Quipus de Pachamac. Ministerio de Cultura, Lima. 43
2017 Urton, Gary. Inka History in Knots: Reading Khipus as Primary Sources. University of Texas Press, Austin. 123; 261