Khipus, Khipu Boards, and Sacred Texts: Toward a Philology of Andean Knotted Cords

Although the knotted cord texts known as khipus have been created in Andes for over a millennium (ca. AD 950–1950), their historical philology has little understood. This study, based on original archival and ethnographic research, analyzes hybrid khipu/alphabetic “khipu boards,” examining development colonial Peru, role twentieth-century Andean rituals. Particular attention is paid to previously unknown sacred manuscript, Entablo, from community of San Pedro de Casta, which describes how villagers used khipu boards annual religious ceremonies until 1950s. study reveals new insights into social symbolic nature post-Inka texts, particularly with reference gender, place, knowledge.