WEBVTT - How Did the Inca Knot Language Work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain stuff from how stuff works, Hey, brain

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<v Speaker 1>stuff lauring vogebam 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 quake in their sandals. Thanka created a

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

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

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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 keepu are now our 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 Incas civilization,

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<v Speaker 1>they found keepu 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 and 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 advocacies, 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 llamas 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 civilized 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>keep who he studied seemed to be anomalies. He figured

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

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<v Speaker 1>clues that entire narratives could be passed along through KEEPU.

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<v Speaker 1>A one seventeenth century Spanish conquistador reported meeting an incoman

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<v Speaker 1>on the road who carried keep 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. Keep you couriers reportedly ran all over the

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<v Speaker 1>Incan Empire, the cords looped over their shoulders. But finding

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

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

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<v Speaker 1>so keep Bleu research has made slow progress in the

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<v Speaker 1>past century. Since the early nineteen nineties, Harvard anthropologist named

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

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<v Speaker 1>the keep boos that don't fit the normal mold of

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<v Speaker 1>accounting devices might mean collecting a database of over nine

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<v Speaker 1>hundred CEBU. In the process, Burton has discovered that beyond

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

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<v Speaker 1>factors to take into consideration when reading a keepu, the

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

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<v Speaker 1>and the type of knots used. Through cross referencing keepu

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<v Speaker 1>in the Harvard collection with Spanish documents from the exact

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<v Speaker 1>time and location in Peru where they originated, he has

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<v Speaker 1>recently been able to prove that the direction the knots

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<v Speaker 1>are tied in could denote which clans individuals belonged to.

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<v Speaker 1>Another researcher named Sabine Highland at St. Andrew's University in

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<v Speaker 1>Scotland has recently found that some keepu still exist within

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<v Speaker 1>villages in the Andes. The locals there have shared some

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<v Speaker 1>new information about them, for instance, that the different materials

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<v Speaker 1>used in the strings is significant, and their understanding is

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<v Speaker 1>that the devices were used to tell stories of warfare.

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<v Speaker 1>Highland also reports evidence of phonetic symbols in the strings.

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<v Speaker 1>It could be for all their ingenuity, the Incas never

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<v Speaker 1>learned to use symbolic written language, but it looks like

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

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

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<v Speaker 1>episode was written by Jesselin Shields and produced by Tyler Clang.

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<v Speaker 1>For more on this and lots of other historical topics.

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<v Speaker 1>Visit our home planet, how stuff works dot com.