AS074/KH0087

Wide View Khipu Notes Exist - See Below

Original Author: Marcia & Robert Ascher Museum: Musee de l Homme, Paris, France Museum Number: 64.19.1.7 Provenance: Unknown Region: Unknown

Total Number of Cords: 96 Number of Ascher Cord Colors: 6 Benford Match: 0.221 Similar Khipu:  Previous  Next Datafile: AS074

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Khipu Notes

Ascher Databook Notes:

1. A detached pendant was associated with the khipu. It is color MB, has length 22.0 cm. with a finished end, and has value O (or blank). We assume it comes from position 67.
2. Khipus AS074-AS080 are contained in a wicker basket. The Museum designates this as given by Henry Reichlen and from the Nazca Valley. Further, AS74-AS79 are noted as from Inca burials, An.con, Central Coast. The basket has a hinged lid and is rectangular in shape (40 cm. x 18 cm. x 11 cm). Also contained in the basket are 2 black (LK) wool cords of 408 cm. and 224 cm.; 27 prepared pendant blanks (12W and 15B) all 28.0 cm.-31. 0 cm. in length, strung on a loop of cord (color B); 7 smooth pebbles; and 79 beans. The beans have been identi­fied by Professor Lawrence Kaplan, University of Massachusetts as seeds of Phaseoius vulgaris, the common bean.
3. By spacing, AS074 contains 1 group of 5 pendants; 2 single pendants; 9 groups of 5 pendants each; a single short differently colored cord serving as a marker; and 8 groups of 5 pendants each.
4. With the exception of 1 pendant (Pl), all groups of 5 pendants have the same color pattern: YB, W, W, MB, B. Subsidiaries appear only on the second pendant in the groups and all are colored MB-W.
5. By spacing, marker, and values, the khipu is in 3 parts: part I is 7 pendants (1 group of 5 and 2 singles); part II is 9 groups; and part III is 8 groups. All pendants in the part II are zero valued (or blank); all in part III have values 0-10; and part I has larger values and 2 values on some pendants. On 2 of the double-valued pendants, the lower value equals the sum of the values in the corresponding pendant position in the groups of part III.
6. We hypothesize that part I in some way serves as a summary of the other 2 parts and that the 9 blank groups indicate that the khipu is incomplete.
7. Comparison of AS074-AS080:
   1. The colors of the khipus do not mark them as particularly similar or as different. AS077 and AS078 are most similar in color: AS078 is made of W, AB, YB, and AB-W while AS077 has these as well as B. Various shades of brown (B, YB, AB, MB, BS, FB) are found on 2 to 4 of the 7 khipus. The 4 shades of greenish blue or blue (GL, VB, PB, LC) are found on only one khipu each.
   2. AS074 and AS075 are similar in that both contain one set of 7 pendants fol­lowed by groups of 5 pendants each. Each group of 5 pendants has a pendant colored YB and the last 2 pendants colored MB, B. For both khipus the first set of 7 pendants differs from the rest of the pendants in that they contain multiple values. Finally, both use markers attached to the main cord to separate sets of groups (4 sets of 8 groups on AS075 and 2 sets of 9 groups and 8 groups respectively on AS074).
   3. AS077 and AS078 are similar in colors and values. Both have groups that vary in the number of pendants but each group contains 3 consecutive cords colored W, AB, W. On both khipus, the values are restricted to 0-10. The sum of all values on AS077 is 105 while on AS078 the sum is 102. Both khipus contain only one cord colored YB and only one cord colored AB-W and each of these has value 1.