WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: How Did the Inca Knot Language Work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren vogelbomb here with a classic episode from our archives.

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<v Speaker 1>In this one, we peer into the history of a

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<v Speaker 1>recorded language that goes back to ancient times, but that

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<v Speaker 1>doesn't involve writing. Welcome to Kipu, the Incan system of

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<v Speaker 1>recording information with knots tied in string. Hey brain stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogel bomb here. During the Bronze Age, the Inca

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<v Speaker 1>built the largest pre Columbian empire in the Americas, extending

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<v Speaker 1>along the west coast of South America from Bolivia to Chile.

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<v Speaker 1>They not only thrived in the harsh climate and dry,

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<v Speaker 1>steep slopes of the High Andes, they also served up

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<v Speaker 1>a master class in technical road building that would have

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<v Speaker 1>made the Romans quaken their sandals think it created a

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<v Speaker 1>twenty five thousand mile highway system that's about forty thousand kilometers,

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<v Speaker 1>complete with rope bridges across treacherous mountain chasms. They also

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<v Speaker 1>engineered millions of acres of high alayitude, terraced farmland, and

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<v Speaker 1>constructed an earthquake proof citadel on top of a craggy

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<v Speaker 1>mountain peak one point five miles that's two point four

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<v Speaker 1>kilometers above sea level. They even figured out how to

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<v Speaker 1>freeze dry potatoes. But unlike the neighboring Maya and Aztecs

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<v Speaker 1>and the ancient Mesopotamians, Chinese, and Egyptians, the Inca never

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<v Speaker 1>developed a system of writing. What they did have were cipu,

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<v Speaker 1>or knotted lengths of cord made from lama or alpaca

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<v Speaker 1>wool or cotton. They hung in rows like a curtain,

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<v Speaker 1>from a thicker central rope, which was sometimes coiled up

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<v Speaker 1>to resemble a string mop. These bundles were often color coded,

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<v Speaker 1>although most surviving cepuo are now a uniform camel color

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<v Speaker 1>and could contain just a few strings or hundreds. When

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<v Speaker 1>the Spanish arrived and wiped out the entire Inca civilization,

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<v Speaker 1>they found cupou everywhere, but destroyed many of them. In

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<v Speaker 1>the nineteen twenties, a science historian named Leland Locke, studying

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<v Speaker 1>the keepu at the American Museum of Natural History in

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<v Speaker 1>New York City, discovered the knots in the keepu represented numbers,

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<v Speaker 1>and the bundles of textiles were most likely record keeping

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<v Speaker 1>devices similar to abacass, probably used to hold census data

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<v Speaker 1>or to keep track of the contents of storehouses, or

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<v Speaker 1>how many lamas were paid as tribute. He realized that

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<v Speaker 1>the height of a knot and its position on its

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<v Speaker 1>cord sybolized units tens, hundreds, thousands, and so on, and

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<v Speaker 1>the position of a string off the main rope could

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<v Speaker 1>denote things like specific people or villages. But even after

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<v Speaker 1>Locke cracked the code, he noticed that some of the

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<v Speaker 1>keepoo he studied seemed to be anomalies. He figured these

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<v Speaker 1>were used for ceremonial purposes. There are, however, anecdotal clues

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<v Speaker 1>that entire narratives could be passed along through keipu. A

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<v Speaker 1>one seventeenth century Spanish conquistador reported meeting an Inca man

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<v Speaker 1>on the road who carried cipo that he said told

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<v Speaker 1>of all the deeds of the Spanish and Peru, good

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<v Speaker 1>and bad. Cipo couriers reportedly ran all over the Incan

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<v Speaker 1>Empire the chords looped over their shoulders. But finding living

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<v Speaker 1>people now who can help researchers unravel the secret of

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<v Speaker 1>the knots has proved very difficult, if not impossible, so

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<v Speaker 1>KEEPU research has made slow progress in the past century.

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<v Speaker 1>Since the early nineteen nineties, a Harvard anthropologist named Gary

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<v Speaker 1>Urton has been working to decipher what, if anything, the

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<v Speaker 1>keepoos that don't fit the normal mold of accounting devices

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<v Speaker 1>might mean, collecting a database of over nine hundred keepu.

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<v Speaker 1>In the process, Rton has discovered that beyond the position

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<v Speaker 1>and height of the knots, there are other factors to

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<v Speaker 1>take into consideration when reading a keipo, the color of

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<v Speaker 1>the string, the direction the knots are twisted, and the

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<v Speaker 1>type of knots used. Through cross referencing keepoo in the

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<v Speaker 1>Harvard Collection with Spanish documents from the exact time and

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<v Speaker 1>location in Peru where they originated, he has recently been

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<v Speaker 1>able to prove that the direction the knots are tied

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<v Speaker 1>in could denote which clans individuals belonged to. Another researcher

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<v Speaker 1>named Sabine Highland at Saint Andrew's University in Scotland has

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<v Speaker 1>recently found that some keepoos still exist within villages in

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<v Speaker 1>the Andes. The locals there have shared some new information

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<v Speaker 1>about them, for instance, that the different materials used in

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<v Speaker 1>the strings is significant and their understanding is that the

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<v Speaker 1>devices were used to tell stories of warfare. Highland also

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<v Speaker 1>reports evidence of phonetic symbols in the strings. It could

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<v Speaker 1>be for all their ingenuity, the Inca has never learned

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<v Speaker 1>to use symbolic written language, But it looks like they

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<v Speaker 1>may have been just a little more creative with their

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<v Speaker 1>storytelling than any other major civilization to date. Today's episode

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<v Speaker 1>is based on the article Unraveling Peopoo the Inca not

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<v Speaker 1>Language on HowStuffWorks dot Com, written by Jesslin Shields. Brain

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with how Stuffwork

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<v Speaker 1>dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more

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<v Speaker 1>podcasts from my heart Radio. Visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

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