Talking knots of the Inka: a curious manuscript may hold the key to Andean writing

Article Abstract:

A 17th-century Jesuit manuscript could provide the key to decoding the quipu writing system of the Inkas of Peru. However, the manuscript's authenticity and reliability have been questioned by scholars. The manuscript appears to have been written by Italian Jesuit missionaries between 1610 and 1638, and includes drawings signed by Blas Valera, a mestizo Jesuit. Uncovered in Naples in the family archive of historian Clara Miccinelli, the manuscript contains information that conflicts with the currently accepted history of the Spanish conquest of the Inkas. A summary of the contents and history of the manuscript is included.

Records and correspondence, Incas, Jesuits, Quechua language

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Tombs with a view: burials on a rock ledge high above an Andean lake yield evidence of a people known to have been among the Inka's fiercest enemies

Article Abstract:

A row of stone burial houses of the Chachapoya, the Inka's fiercest enemy, lay undisturbed on a cliff above Lake of the Condors in the Peruvian Andes for nearly 500 years until its discovery and vandalism in Nov 1996. Mummy bundles were found next to burial gifts of ceramic pottery, carved figurines, baskets and gourds, about 10 percent of the artefacts not stolen by modern-day looters.

South America

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Fabric of time; a 2,000-year-old Peruvian textile offers evidence of early Andean calendrical systems

Article Abstract:

A 2000-year-old Peruvian textile which may offer evidence of an early Andean lunar calenedar is discussed.The quality of the textile, the presence of grave offerings and of possible sacrificial victims suggest that the person was of high social status. Julio C Tello, the father of Peruvian archaeology, was the first to suggest the textile may have had calendrical functions.

History, Archaeology, Calendar art

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