Signs of the Inka Khipu : binary coding in the Andean knotted-string records /

In an age when computers process immense amounts of information by the manipulation of sequences of 1s and 0s, it remains a frustrating mystery how prehistoric Inka recordkeepers encoded a tremendous variety and quantity of data using only knotted and dyed strings. Yet the comparison between compute...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Urton, Gary, 1946- (Author)
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: Austin : University of Texas Press, 2003.
Edition:Uncorrected, advance page proofs.
Series:Linda Schele series in Maya and pre-Columbian studies.
Subjects:
Table of Contents:
  • Preface and acknowledgments
  • 1. Memory, writing, and record keeping in the Inka Empire
  • 2. Theory and methods in the study of Khipu binary coding
  • 3. The physical components of Khipu binary coding
  • 4. The linguistic components of Khipu binary coding
  • 5. Khipu sign capacity and code conversion
  • 6. Sign theory, markedness, and parallelism in the Khipu information system
  • 7. Conclusions
  • Appendix. Tabular description of Khipu UR19 from Chachapoyas
  • Notes
  • Bibliography.