Knot Just Numbers: Andean Khipu Strings
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- Опубликовано: 8 ноя 2021
- This lecture is part of a joint event with the British Society for the History of Mathematics
This event focusses on mathematics as expressed in different languages and cultures.
A lecture by Manuel Medrano
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I've been fascinated by Khipus since I first read about them. The question of how much and what type of information was stored in them is intriguing. We're used to writing systems being comprised of pictorial symbols because that's the dominant form today, but it makes perfect sense that a culture that valued textiles highly might use them to record information. I wonder what other forms of information recording might have gone unrecognised because they don't correspond with preconceived ideas of what notation looks like. This is illustrated well in two different passages in John Hemming's classic history The Conquest of the Incas. In an early passage he describes how the conquistadors handed Atahualpa a prayer book, but not recognising what it was, he cast it aside, enraging the Spanish. But later in the history, Hemming describes an Inca leader who was collaborating with the Spanish during the rebellion attempting to demonstrate to them that one of their allies was plotting to switch sides and join the rebellion. As proof of this, he presents them with Khipus he has captured, (presumably detailing movements of troops or resources). Not understanding the significance of these strange knotted threads, the Spanish ignored his advice. To European eyes, the Incans were illiterate, yet to Inca eyes, it was the Europeans. Yet because of colonialism it was the former view that became the dominant narrative.
Interesting.
I did not expect research to have come this far in so little time. Thank you very much for this lecture and your work.
A really deep and interesting - thank you!
When were they last made?
El Imperio Inka empieza en el año 0 de la era cristiana.
I suggest research fortified shampoo for fast hair growth.
This is all academic blah blah blah. Why doesn't someone just try to interpret them and hear the words they hold for us.
then you do this for us instead, otherwise your commnet is blah blah blah blah
Bueno, eso seria casi imposible. Los khipus han sido utilizados por siglos y siglos, y por distintos pueblos. Así que no siempre serán iguales, ademas de que el sistema ha sufrido perfeccionamientos a través de los siglos...