USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Quipus (kee-poo), sometimes called talking knots, were recording devices used by the Inka Empire, the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The word quipu comes from the Quechua word for “knot.” A quipu usually consisted of colored, spun and plied thread or strings from llama hair.

Detailed explanation-2: -A quipu usually consisted of cotton or camelid fiber strings. The Inca people used them for collecting data and keeping records, monitoring tax obligations, collecting census records, calendrical information, and for military organization.

Detailed explanation-3: -However, quipu are still used by Andean people up and down South America even today, most often by shepherds and herders as a method to record livestock numbers.

Detailed explanation-4: -The Incas invented a way of recording things on a system of knotted strings called a quipu. Strings of various colors with single, double, or triple knots tied in them hung from a horizontal cord.

Detailed explanation-5: -Archaeological evidence indicates that quipus have been in use in South America at least since  AD 770, and they continue to be used by Andean pastoralists today.