"Inca writing?" Topic
7 Posts
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Editor in Chief Bill | 08 Dec 2018 1:52 p.m. PST |
THE Incas left no doubt that theirs was a sophisticated, technologically savvy civilisation. At its height in the 15th century, it was the largest empire in the Americas, extending almost 5000 kilometres from modern-day Ecuador to Chile. These were the people who built Machu Picchu, a royal estate perched in the clouds, and an extensive network of paved roads complete with suspension bridges crafted from woven grass. But the paradox of the Incas is that despite all this sophistication they never learned to write.Or did they?… link |
GildasFacit | 08 Dec 2018 2:25 p.m. PST |
Since when is this 'news' ? These were recognised as a method of communicating and/or recording information ages ago. The never invented the wheel either. |
robert piepenbrink | 08 Dec 2018 4:03 p.m. PST |
Be fair, Gildas. We've always known they used them for record-keeping, but cracking them would be fairly big news. That said, you notice you have two people in that article "reading" khipus--but on two totally different systems. A third thinks they were ideographs. Every unknown language in the history of decryption has (or had) an expert who thinks it's entirely ideographic. Hasn't been the case yet. I also like the notion that it must have been complex because the Spanish never learned it. Doesn't occur to the author that there were a lot of things the Spanish didn't learn because the Spanish weren't interested. They didn't have to be complicated or even difficult--just not interesting to conquistadores and first-generation missionaries. My guess? Taxes due and inventories, much like Cretan Linear B. Maybe something about the materials or the nature of the knots could tell a reader who owed the taxes of what it was an inventory of--but it's entirely possible that the coding was arbitrary, and we never will crack it without a Rosetta equivalent. |
Bowman | 08 Dec 2018 8:02 p.m. PST |
We've always known they used them for record-keeping, but cracking them would be fairly big news. True but this is still quite old news. So old that I remember when "khipu" was spelt "quipu". Just like the proper Quechua word is now "Inka". I also like the notion that it must have been complex because the Spanish never learned it. Well it's hard to tell. The Spanish were notoriously disinterested in any of the civilizations they destroyed. The situation in South American was even worse as almost all the conquistadors in this theatre were illiterate. I would guess that almost no Conquistador was even remotely interested in these bits of strings. The never invented the wheel either. Sorry that's not true. Mesoamericans and South Americans had wheeled toys for their children. The bigger issue was lack of drought animals. Only the chiliquenes species of llama could be used as a harness animal. And that was by the Mapuche, who would be loathe to share that skill with their arch enemies, the Inca. …..but it's entirely possible that the coding was arbitrary, and we never will crack it without a Rosetta equivalent. Well the Khipus may have been around before the Inca. We have decoded the numerical system, just like the symbols for Mayan numerals were decoded well before the language was deciphered. But the Mayan script was eventually deciphered by decades of painstaking work by some very bright and dedicated people. All without a Rosetta Stone equivalent. You never know. |
jdginaz | 08 Dec 2018 9:50 p.m. PST |
The never invented the wheel either. Not true there are toys and religious artifacts that have wheels on them. Pat of the problem was the vertical terrain and lac of a suitable raft animal meant that wheels were apparently not viewed viewed as particularly useful. |
GildasFacit | 09 Dec 2018 3:36 a.m. PST |
My point was that you will still find that erroneous statement about wheels, just as about writing – sarcasm !!!. Like much 'history' once an idea gets attached to a culture it tends to stick. They also used the wheelbarrow I believe. |
jdginaz | 09 Dec 2018 11:48 p.m. PST |
Sorry I missed the sarcasm. |
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