Color, Structure, and Meaning in Middle Horizon Khipus

Summary

Inka khipus used cord color, knots, cord attachment, final twist, and sometimes material (e.g., colored camelid hair) to encode information. Middle Horizon (Wari) khipus used all these conventions and more. For instance, the thick, white, cotton pendant cords of MH khipus were routinely wrapped with brightly colored (usually camelid hair) yarns that most likely conveyed meaning. The thickness and structure of pendant-cords themselves likely held significance. Further, while Wari khipu makers tied knots in pendant cords, they sometimes also wrapped these knots with multicolored camelid hair yarns. These practices and others make Middle Horizon khipus far more complex than their Inka counterparts.

Based on a detailed study of four Middle Horizon khipu in the collections of the American Museum of Natural History in New York and two khipu that were recently excavated by Milosz Giersz from the site of El Castillo de Huarmey, this talk will discuss how MH khipus differ from Inka khipus, and it will present patterns found in their color, structure, cord attachment, and twist. The talk will consider the way these patterns and attributes might have been used to encode information.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Color, Structure and Meaning in Ancient Andean Fiber Arts

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Spatial Coverage