Quipu (knot recording)

Timeline

1. c. 600–1000Wari (Huari) · AyacuchoAs the Wari Empire expanded, the quipu was used as a standardized administrative recording tool within the empire's relay stations and storage systems; decimal knot notation and cord-color classification managed tribute, textiles, and labor allocation, laying the foundation for the later Inca quipu system.
2. 1051Chimú precursor zone on the north coast of Peru and the central highlands · PeruAfter the collapse of the Wari Empire, regional kingdoms and chiefdoms continued to use quipus to record storage, textile output, and tribute accounts; archaeology and ethnographic analogy in the 1050s show that knot-keeping officials still performed the role of 'knot readers' (quipucamayoc), sustaining the administrative memory of dispersed polities.
3. c. 1400–1583Cusco imperial administrative network · CuscoThe Inca expanded the quipu into an empire-level system of censuses, taxation, and historical records; after Spanish colonization, written script replaced the official quipu, most were burned, and the few hundred surviving examples are key artifacts for decoding Andean numeration and a possible syllabic script.