KH0227

Wide View Khipu Notes Exist - See Below

Original Name: AS207C Original Author: Marcia & Robert Ascher Museum: Museum fur Volkerkunde, Vienna Museum Number: 140708 Provenance: Unknown Region: Huaura Valley, near Lima, on Santa Rosalia Hacienda

Total Number of Cords: 221 Number of Ascher Cord Colors: 21 Benford Match: 0.859 Similar Khipu:  Previous  Next

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Khipu Notes

Ascher Databook Notes:

1. Construction Note: The main cord is finished with a thread wrapping extending for 1.0 cm.
2. With the khipu were 4 broken cords. Two of them were W with finished ends, no knots, and lengths of 24.0 cm and 45.0 cm. We assume that the 24.0 cm W cord completes pendant 86. The other two cords were AB. One had a finished end, no knots, and length 27.0 cm. The other was broken at both ends, 37.0 cm long with 1E knot 7.0 cm from one end.
3. Pendant 44 was broken at 10.0 cm but a directly associated cord was assumed to be its continuation. Pendant 59 was broken at 12.0 cm but a directly associated cord was assumed to be its continuation. Pendant 60 was broken at 15.0 cm. A directly associated cord was assumed to be a part of it but the s knot position may be missing. Subsidiary 135s1 was broken at 3.0 cm but a directly associated cord was assumed to be its continuation.
4. Provenance: Huaura Valley, near Lima, on Santa Rosalia Hacienda. It was found in the remains of a building that was probably an Inka tambo on an old Inka road at its entrance into the cultivated valley. Close by lay the remains of a small settlement and a cemetery.
5. By spacing the khipu is separated into two parts. It may have had additional parts as the main cord is not complete.
6. Part I consists of seven cord groups with six pendants each. The groups are separated by spacing and color pattern.
   
   1. With one exception (pendant 1 in group 7) the color pattern is W,AB,AB,AB,MG:W,AB. All subsidiaries are color MB and appear only on positions 3 through 6 in groups 1 and 2.
   2. In all groups position 1 has value 0 or blank; position 6 has the maxiumum value; positions 2 and 5 are similar in magnitude; and positions 3 and 4 are similar in magnitude. That is:
      
      For all i=(1,...,7):
      
          P_i1 = 0
          17 ≤ P_i6 = max(j) P_ij ≤ 72
          P_i2 and P_i5 ≤ 32
          P_i3 and P_i4 ≤ 13
      
      Also, pendant values in groups 2, 4, and 6 have the same rank order. That is,
      
      For all i=(2, 4, 6):
      
      P_i6 > P_i2 > P_i5 > P_i3 > P_i4 > P_i1
   3. The relative magnitudes of the values in adjacent groups is the same for positions 2 and 6. That is:
      
      For all j=(2,6):
      
          P_2j > P_1j
          P_3j < P_2j
          P_4j > P_3j
          P_5j < P_4j
          P_6j > P_5j
          P_7j < P_6j
      
      
7. Part II consists of eight cord groups with 15 pendants each. The groups are separated by spacing and color pattern. ( The first group has an additional pendant between pendants 10 and 11).
   1. Pendants 4 and 11 subdivide each group into 3 subgroups. These pendant positions are the only ones that never contain any subsidiaries and, with one exception, all are zero-valued or blank. Positions 1- 3 have the color pattern MG, FB:W for groups 1- 4 then MG:W for groups 5-8, W; position 4 is W; positions 5- 10 are all color AB; position 11 is MG:W for groups 1- 3 then AB: KG for groups 4-8; positions 12- 14 are all W; and position 1 5 is not consistent in color.
   2. In every group pendants in position 8 have at least one subsidiary. With one exception each has a subsidiary of color AB: KG. In positions 12-15, if there is one subsidiary it is AB-W or KG; if there are two it is one of each of these colors; and if there are three it is one of each of these colors and an AB:W.
   3. The numerical consistencies are:
      1. In all groups the maximum value is in position 3.
      2. The values of the pendants in group 7 are the sum of the values on the pendants in the same positions in groups 4 and 3 for positions 3, 6, 10. That is:
         
         P_3j + P_4j = P_7j for j=(3, 6, 10)
         
         
      3. The values in positions 13- 15 are the same for groups 6 and 7. That is:
         
         P_6j = P_7j for j=(13, 14, 15)
         
         

Harvard Khipu Database Notes:
(Notes translated from German by Eric Phelan): Khipu bundle - ancient Peruvian knot-writing, found in Huaura Valley ( at Lima) at the Hacienda Santa Rosalia in the remains of a building (einem Gebauderest), probably an Inkan Tambo at the entrance/start of an old Inkan road in the cultivated valley. Nearby lie the remains of a small settlement and a graveyard. This piece is made of 163 cords, which are arranged in groups of 15 cords and lined up on a 116cm long cord. The cord lengths are on average between 35 and 56 cm. Different/various knots designate tens and ones,and different/various colors, beige, brown, bark blue, light blue, and a beige-blue mixture, probably the types of goods, or the type of person that these recordings have to do with (refer to).

Primary Cord Notes:Begins with a wrapped end (2cm); to fiirst cord group=4.5cm