Tall View Khipu Notes Exist - See Below Original Name: AS068 Original Author: Marcia & Robert Ascher Museum: Museo Nac., Pueblo Libre Museum Number: 1745 Provenance: Unknown Region: Monte de Cacatilla, Valle de Nazca Total Number of Cords: 216Number of Ascher Cord Colors: 11Benford Match: 0.967Similar Khipu:  Previous  Next

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Khipu Notes

Ascher Databook Notes:
1. Spaces appear between pendants 10 and 11 and between pendants 11 and 12. Therefore, the group of the 5 pendants numbered 8 through 12 probably originally had 7 pendants.
2. Space appears between pendants 1 5 and 16. This group probably had 7 pendants.
3. Space appears between pendants 197 and 198. This group probably had 7 pendants.
4. By spacing there are 32 groups. Larger spaces appear after the sixth, sixteenth, and twenty-second group. The spacing, color patterning and values are best described by considering the khipu to be in two parts ( Part I is the first 16 groups and Part II is the last 16 groups ). Each part c onsists of 3 sections: section A is l group; section B is the next 5 groups; and section C is the last 10 groups. Hence:

Part I
A B C
1 2-6 7-16
Part II
A B C
7-16 18-22 23-32

5. Basically each group contains 7 pendants. With the exception of positions 4 and 6, the color pattern is consistent from group to group. For positions l, 2, 3, 5, 7, it is W, MB, CB:YB, YB, YB. Position 4, with one exception, is CB:YB in Part I and LA in Part II.
In Part I, position 6 is CB in section A, CB or 0G in section B, and 0G in section C; in Part II, it is omitted in section A, CB or omitted in section B, and CB in section C.
6. There is only one subsidiary on one pendant on the entire khipu.
1. The values in section A are, in general, position by position, the sum of the values in the five groups in section B or the order of magnitude of the sums. This is presented in Table 1 below.

TABLE 1

Part I
A 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Sum of groups in B 5928 1120 1177 ? 1904 1662 384
A 5513 934 2000-2999 1283 1287 - 686
Sum of groups in B 4521 934 2771-2879 1047 1317 ? 685
Part II

2. The values in section B are, position by position, the order of magnitude of the sum of the 10 groups in section C. This is presented in Table 2 below.

TABLE 2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Range of B values 1157:±390 244±113 590±418 216±89 370±194 ? 199±132
Sum of C groups, Part I 1027 250 222-319 223 244 356 87
Sum of C groups, Part II 815 167-176 528-537 295 260 ? 56

3. In only one case is a value in section B the exact sum of the 10 values in section C in the comparable position. This occurs in Part I position 6. The value in position 6 in the second group of section B is the sum of the 10 values in position 6 in section C.
4. In Part I, for pendant positions 1, 2, 3, the following holds: there is a consistent ratio of (the sum of the values in the 5 groups in section B) / (the sum of the values of the last 5 groups in section C). The ratio is 11.83±1.4%. Similarly in Part II, position 1, the ratio is 11.84. (Positions 2 and 3 of Part II contain breakage. From what remains, it can be seen that the ratio does not hold for position 2, but might for position 3.)
7. The relative magnitude of values in comparable groups in Parts I and II is consistent for positions 1, 2, and 3. For each of the 16 groups, the values in Part I are greater than the values in Part II in positions 1 and 3, and the values in Part II are greater in position 2.
8. There are some additional relationships between sums of 5 consecutive groups in section C of the khipu. If Pijk represents the value of the pendant in the ith part (i=l,2 ), the jth group of section C (j=l,2,...,10), and the kth position in the group (k=l,2,...,7), the relationships can be represented as follows:
$\sum\limits_{j=1}^5 P_{1j5} = \sum\limits_{j=6}^{10} P_{2j4}$
$\sum\limits_{j=5i-4}^{5i} (P_{1j1}-P_{2j1}) = P_{i,10,1}\;\;\;for\;i=(1,2)$
9. KH0081 and KH0058 are associated. For a detailed discussion see KH0058.