The use of the quipu dates back to 2500 BCE, long before the Inca Empire emerged. We still don't know how it originated. Deciphering quipus is tough.

The Inca Empire was a vast empire that flourished in the Andean region of South America from the early 15th century A.D. up until its conquest by the Spanish in the 1530s. Even after the conquest ...

The Inca Road system and the quipu recording devices predated the forming of the empire, but the Inca vastly expanded their use and importance. Marcone Flores says that nobody started from zero — even ...

Quipu was named after the knotted cords used as recording devices by the Inca Empire and other South American cultures. It resembles those cords, with one long main filament off which branches ...

The quipu is a traditional Andean counting device that uses colored strings and knots in lieu of paper and numbers.

The chasquis transmitted the orders of the Sapa Inca to the political and military leaders of the provinces, just as, in reverse, they carried the messages from these leaders to Cuzco. To do this ...

Unraveling the Secrets of the Inca Empire For hundreds of years, Andean people recorded information by tying knots into long cords. Will we ever be able to read them?