Replica quipu, South American, c 15th century.
- Made:
- 1974 in Henley-on-Thames
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LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
License
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
One replica Quipu
Replica of a quipu made from an original held at the Museum of Natural History, New York, in 1974. Quipus were used by the Incas during the 15th and early 16th centuries as records of all types of accounts. It was discovered in the early 20th century that the knots represent numbers on a base 10 system; the long knots being units and the short ones tens, hundreds or thousands depending on their position.
Details
- Category:
- Mathematics
- Object Number:
- 1974-254
- Materials:
- wool, cotton (fibre) and straw
- Measurements:
-
as displayed: 910 mm x 21 mm x 15 mm, 0.03 kg
- credit:
- Rowlands, J.
