Inca Quipu Knot-Recording

Timeline

1. c. 1200–1430Cuzco region · Cuzco regionDuring the Inca chiefdom period, knotted cords were already used to record local population and storage; the technique inherited knot-recording traditions from across the Andes, without yet forming an empire-level standardized encoding system.
2. c. 1431–1532Throughout the Inca Empire · ArgentinaDuring Pachacuti's expansion, the empire established a system of professional quipu administrators, unifying decimal knot-counting methods and color-coding standards; upon conquering new provinces, quipucamayoc were immediately dispatched to register land, labor service, and tribute, allowing the Cuzco center to compile empire-wide resource data.
3. 1533Held in museums in Lima and elsewhere · LimaSpanish colonists burned large numbers of imperial quipu archives, leaving only a few artifacts and colonial documentary records; since the 20th century, archaeologists and mathematicians have reconstructed the recording system through analysis of knot structures, and recent research suggests some quipus may contain narrative syllabic encoding.