Keys to Mathematical Treasure Chests: Andean Khipus – Conclusion and References

Author(s): 
Manuel Medrano (Harvard University)

 

Conclusion

As we near the 100-year anniversary of Leland Locke’s The Ancient Quipu or Peruvian Knot Record [1923], this survey of khipu studies’ online footprint has endeavored to highlight the sheer variety of resources created since Locke’s decipherment of the numerical “khipu code.” Khipus of different times and places are maintained in the high-quality online records of dozens of museum institutions, with an ever-growing percentage encoded in an existing, open-source khipu database. Rich documentation and analyses await the online reader invested—like today’s handful of khipu researchers—in someday fully deciphering the primary sources of the ancient Andes.

References

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Ascher, Marcia, and Robert Ascher. 1981. Code of the Quipu: A Study in Media, Mathematics, and Culture. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

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Collections

American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA.

Dallas Museum of Art, TX, USA.

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library & Collections, Washington, DC, USA.

Ethnologisches Museum, Berlin, Germany.

Museo de Arte de Lima, Peru.

Museo Larco, Lima, Peru.

Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia del Perú, Lima.

Museo de Sitio de Pachacamac, Peru.

Penn Museum, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, Berkeley, CA, USA.

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, USA.

Världskulturmuseet, Gothenburg, Sweden.