Signs Of The Inka Khipu

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Signs of the Inka Khipu

Author : Gary Urton
Publisher : University of Texas Press
Page : 217 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2009-03-06
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780292773752

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Signs of the Inka Khipu by Gary Urton Pdf

In an age when computers process immense amounts of information by the manipulation of sequences of 1s and 0s, it remains a frustrating mystery how prehistoric Inka recordkeepers encoded a tremendous variety and quantity of data using only knotted and dyed strings. Yet the comparison between computers and khipu may hold an important clue to deciphering the Inka records. In this book, Gary Urton sets forth a pathbreaking theory that the manipulation of fibers in the construction of khipu created physical features that constitute binary-coded sequences which store units of information in a system of binary recordkeeping that was used throughout the Inka empire. Urton begins his theory with the making of khipu, showing how at each step of the process binary, either/or choices were made. He then investigates the symbolic components of the binary coding system, the amount of information that could have been encoded, procedures that may have been used for reading the khipu, the nature of the khipu signs, and, finally, the nature of the khipu recording system itself--emphasizing relations of markedness and semantic coupling. This research constitutes a major step forward in building a unified theory of the khipu system of information storage and communication based on the sum total of construction features making up these extraordinary objects.

Inka History in Knots

Author : Gary Urton
Publisher : University of Texas Press
Page : 320 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2017-04-04
Category : History
ISBN : 9781477311998

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Inka History in Knots by Gary Urton Pdf

The world's leading authority on Inka khipus presents a comprehensive overview of the types of information recorded in these knotted strings, demonstrating how they can serve as primary documents for a history of the Inka empire.

Narrative Threads

Author : Jeffrey Quilter,Gary Urton
Publisher : University of Texas Press
Page : 394 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2010-07-05
Category : History
ISBN : 9780292774339

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Narrative Threads by Jeffrey Quilter,Gary Urton Pdf

The Inka Empire stretched over much of the length and breadth of the South American Andes, encompassed elaborately planned cities linked by a complex network of roads and messengers, and created astonishing works of architecture and artistry and a compelling mythology—all without the aid of a graphic writing system. Instead, the Inkas' records consisted of devices made of knotted and dyed strings—called khipu—on which they recorded information pertaining to the organization and history of their empire. Despite more than a century of research on these remarkable devices, the khipu remain largely undeciphered. In this benchmark book, twelve international scholars tackle the most vexed question in khipu studies: how did the Inkas record and transmit narrative records by means of knotted strings? The authors approach the problem from a variety of angles. Several essays mine Spanish colonial sources for details about the kinds of narrative encoded in the khipu. Others look at the uses to which khipu were put before and after the Conquest, as well as their current use in some contemporary Andean communities. Still others analyze the formal characteristics of khipu and seek to explain how they encode various kinds of numerical and narrative data.

Mathematics of the Incas

Author : Marcia Ascher,Robert Ascher
Publisher : Courier Corporation
Page : 180 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2013-01-02
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780486152707

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Mathematics of the Incas by Marcia Ascher,Robert Ascher Pdf

Unique, thought-provoking study discusses quipu, an accounting system employing knotted, colored cords, used by Incas. Cultural context, mathematics involved, and even how to make a quipu. Over 125 illustrations.

A History of the Khipu

Author : Galen Brokaw
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 320 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2010-03-15
Category : History
ISBN : 0521197791

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A History of the Khipu by Galen Brokaw Pdf

This book begins by proposing a theoretical model that reconciles orality-literacy studies and media theory in order to avoid the specious dichotomization of societies into those with and those without writing. The more relevant issue is the way in which a given society distributes semiotic functions among the various media that it employs and the forms of economic and political integration within which such media function. This theoretical model then informs a history of the Andean khipu from pre-Columbian times through the first 120 years of the colonial period. The first half of the book examines early Andean media and their socioeconomic and political contexts, culminating with the emergence of Wari and subsequently Inca khipu. The second half of the book documents and analyzes the continued use of khipu by indigenous individuals and communities in their interactions with Spanish officials, chroniclers, and priests. The study corrects many common misconceptions, such as the alleged mass destruction of khipu in the late sixteenth century. Even more importantly, it highlights the dialogue that occurred in the colonial period between the administrative and historiographic discourses of alphabetic Spanish and those of native Andean khipu genres.

The Cord Keepers

Author : Frank Salomon
Publisher : Duke University Press
Page : 374 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2004-10-29
Category : History
ISBN : 0822333902

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The Cord Keepers by Frank Salomon Pdf

Breaks new ground with a close ethnography of one Andean village where villagers, surprisingly, have conserved a set of ancient, knowledge-encoded cords to the present day.

The Social Life of Numbers

Author : Gary Urton,Primitivo Nina Llanos
Publisher : University of Texas Press
Page : 294 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2010-07-05
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780292786844

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The Social Life of Numbers by Gary Urton,Primitivo Nina Llanos Pdf

Unraveling all the mysteries of the khipu--the knotted string device used by the Inka to record both statistical data and narrative accounts of myths, histories, and genealogies--will require an understanding of how number values and relations may have been used to encode information on social, familial, and political relationships and structures. This is the problem Gary Urton tackles in his pathfinding study of the origin, meaning, and significance of numbers and the philosophical principles underlying the practice of arithmetic among Quechua-speaking peoples of the Andes. Based on fieldwork in communities around Sucre, in south-central Bolivia, Urton argues that the origin and meaning of numbers were and are conceived of by Quechua-speaking peoples in ways similar to their ideas about, and formulations of, gender, age, and social relations. He also demonstrates that their practice of arithmetic is based on a well-articulated body of philosophical principles and values that reflects a continuous attempt to maintain balance, harmony, and equilibrium in the material, social, and moral spheres of community life.

The Incas

Author : Terence N. D'Altroy
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 578 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2014-05-27
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781444331158

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The Incas by Terence N. D'Altroy Pdf

The Incas is a captivating exploration of one of the greatest civilizations ever seen. Seamlessly drawing on history, archaeology, and ethnography, this thoroughly updated new edition integrates advances made in hundreds of new studies conducted over the last decade. • Written by one of the world’s leading experts on Inca civilization • Covers Inca history, politics, economy, ideology, society, and military organization • Explores advances in research that include pre-imperial Inca society; the royal capital of Cuzco; the sacred landscape; royal estates; Machu Picchu; provincial relations; the khipu information-recording technology; languages, time frames, gender relations, effects on human biology, and daily life • Explicitly examines how the Inca world view and philosophy affected the character of the empire • Illustrated with over 90 maps, figures, and photographs

The Cambridge World History

Author : Jerry H. Bentley,Sanjay Subrahmanyam,Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2015-04-09
Category : History
ISBN : 052176162X

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The Cambridge World History by Jerry H. Bentley,Sanjay Subrahmanyam,Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks Pdf

The era from 1400 to 1800 saw intense biological, commercial, and cultural exchanges, and the creation of global connections on an unprecedented scale. Divided into two books, Volume 6 of the Cambridge World History series considers these critical transformations. The first book examines the material and political foundations of the era, including global considerations of the environment, disease, technology, and cities, along with regional studies of empires in the eastern and western hemispheres, crossroads areas such as the Indian Ocean, Central Asia, and the Caribbean, and sites of competition and conflict, including Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Mediterranean. The second book focuses on patterns of change, examining the expansion of Christianity and Islam, migrations, warfare, and other topics on a global scale, and offering insightful detailed analyses of the Columbian exchange, slavery, silver, trade, entrepreneurs, Asian religions, legal encounters, plantation economies, early industrialism, and the writing of history.

The Chanka

Author : Brian S. Bauer,Lucas C. Kellett,Miriam Araoz Silva
Publisher : Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press
Page : 221 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 2010-12-31
Category : History
ISBN : 9781938770302

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The Chanka by Brian S. Bauer,Lucas C. Kellett,Miriam Araoz Silva Pdf

In AD 1438 a battle took place outside the city of Cuzco that changed the course of South American history. The Chanka, a powerful ethnic group from the Andahuaylas region, had begun an aggressive program of expansion. Conquering a host of smaller polities, their army had advanced well inside the territory of their traditional rival, the Inca. In a series of unusual maneuvers, the Inca defeated the invading Chanka forces and became the most powerful people in the Andes. Many scholars believe that the defeat of the Chanka represents a defining moment in the history of South America as the Inca then continued to expand and establish the largest empire of the Americas. Despite its critical position in South American history, until recently the Chanka heartland remained unexplored and the cultural processes that led to their rapid development and subsequent defeat by the Inca had not been investigated. From 2001 to 2004, Brian Bauer conducted an archaeological survey of the Andahuaylas region. This project represents an unparalleled opportunity to examine theoretical issues concerning the history and cultural development of late-prehistoric societies in this area of the Andes. The resulting book includes an archaeological analysis on the development of the Chanka and examines their ultimate defeat by the Inca.

Writing as Material Practice

Author : Kathryn E. Piquette,Ruth D. Whitehouse
Publisher : Ubiquity Press
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 2013-12-18
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781909188266

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Writing as Material Practice by Kathryn E. Piquette,Ruth D. Whitehouse Pdf

Writing as Material Practice grapples with the issue of writing as a form of material culture in its ancient and more recent manifestations, and in the contexts of production and consumption. Fifteen case studies explore the artefactual nature of writing — the ways in which materials, techniques, colour, scale, orientation and visibility inform the creation of inscribed objects and spaces, as well as structure subsequent engagement, perception and meaning making. Covering a temporal span of some 5000 years, from c.3200 BCE to the present day, and ranging in spatial context from the Americas to the Near East, the chapters in this volume bring a variety of perspectives which contribute to both specific and broader questions of writing materialities. The authors also aim to place past graphical systems in their social contexts so they can be understood in relation to the people who created and attributed meaning to writing and associated symbolic modes through a diverse array of individual and wider social practices.

The Inka Empire

Author : Izumi Shimada
Publisher : University of Texas Press
Page : 393 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2015-06-01
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780292760790

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The Inka Empire by Izumi Shimada Pdf

Massive yet elegantly executed masonry architecture and andenes (agricultural terraces) set against majestic and seemingly boundless Andean landscapes, roads built in defiance of rugged terrains, and fine textiles with orderly geometric designs—all were created within the largest political system in the ancient New World, a system headed, paradoxically, by a single, small minority group without wheeled vehicles, markets, or a writing system, the Inka. For some 130 years (ca. A.D. 1400 to 1533), the Inka ruled over at least eighty-six ethnic groups in an empire that encompassed about 2 million square kilometers, from the northernmost region of the Ecuador–Colombia border to northwest Argentina. The Inka Empire brings together leading international scholars from many complementary disciplines, including human genetics, linguistics, textile and architectural studies, ethnohistory, and archaeology, to present a state-of-the-art, holistic, and in-depth vision of the Inkas. The contributors provide the latest data and understandings of the political, demographic, and linguistic evolution of the Inkas, from the formative era prior to their political ascendancy to their post-conquest transformation. The scholars also offer an updated vision of the unity, diversity, and essence of the material, organizational, and symbolic-ideological features of the Inka Empire. As a whole, The Inka Empire demonstrates the necessity and value of a multidisciplinary approach that incorporates the insights of fields beyond archaeology and ethnohistory. And with essays by scholars from seven countries, it reflects the cosmopolitanism that has characterized Inka studies ever since its beginnings in the nineteenth century.

Deception

Author : Brooke Harrington
Publisher : Stanford University Press
Page : 361 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2009
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780804756495

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Deception by Brooke Harrington Pdf

Deception offers a broadly accessible overview of state-of-the-art research on lies, trickery, cheating, and shams by leading experts in the natural and social sciences, as well as computing, the humanities, and the military.

The Great Inka Road

Author : Ramiro Matos Mendieta,Jose Barreiro
Publisher : Smithsonian Institution
Page : 233 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2015-07-21
Category : History
ISBN : 9781588344953

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The Great Inka Road by Ramiro Matos Mendieta,Jose Barreiro Pdf

This compelling collection of essays explores the Qhapaq nan (or Great Inca Road), an extensive network of trails reaching modern-day Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. These roads and the accompanying agricultural terraces and structures that have survived for more than six centuries are a testament to the advanced engineering and construction skills of the Inca people. The Qhapaq nan also spurred an important process of ecological and community integration across the Andean region. This book, the companion volume to a National Museum of the American Indian exhibition of the same name, features essays on six main themes: the ancestors of the Inca, Cusco as the center of the empire, road engineering, road transportation and integration, the road in the Colonial era, and the road today. Beautifully designed and featuring more than 225 full-color illustrations, The Great Inka Road is a fascinating look at this enduring symbol of the Andean peoples' strength and adaptability.

Variations in the Expression of Inka Power

Author : Richard L. Burger,Craig Morris,Ramiro Matos Mendieta
Publisher : Dumbarton Oaks
Page : 488 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 2007
Category : History
ISBN : 0884023516

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Variations in the Expression of Inka Power by Richard L. Burger,Craig Morris,Ramiro Matos Mendieta Pdf

Until recently, little archaeological investigation has been dedicated to the Inka, the last great culture in Andean South America before the 16th-century arrival of the Spaniards. Using both theoretical and methodological approaches, scholars of the sciences, social sciences, and humanities provide a new understanding of Inka culture and history.