Khipus: Unravelling an Andean Writing System

Sabine Hyland, Professor of World Religions in the University of St Andrews, spoke to the meeting on the subject of 'Unravelling an Ancient Code written in String’. In this fascinating talk she described her 2015 research in a remote Peruvian village, San Juan de Collata, high in the Andes, studying two rare and very precious ‘khipus’. A khipu is a bundle of chords hung on a fabric cross-piece; the chords are made of different animal fabrics of different colours and different lengths, thought to be used for keeping records, historical accounts, storing information, as narrative or epistle. Studying the length of chord, choice of fabric, colour and the knots tied in them is thought to be the way to decipher the meaning of each individual khipu. Examples were made up to the 20th century although those able to read them died out in the early 1900s. Carbon dating has shown that they predate Spanish colonial times which began in 1532. During time of war such as during Spanish colonisation they are thought to have been especially important as a means of communicating secretly. In the village of Collata Sabine was given 48 hours to look at the two khipus (under the watchful eyes of guards!). She had been given special permission to study them by the village elders (a rare visit from a group of wild vicunas, alpaca-like animals, was an omen showing the approval of the mountain deities) and she was told not to use gloves but only her bare hands to touch them. Studying extant khipus raises a lot of questions still to be answered but it seems clear that they are a a 3-dimensional tactile ‘writing’ system, the different colours, fabrics, length of chord, series and type of knot, all combining to produce a communication system. Much still needs to be learnt……... Following questions from fascinated members of the club, a vote of thanks was given by Angela Fowlis.