Inventions & Discoveries · Writing and counting

Quipu

c. 600–1000 CE · 7th century · Also known as Khipu

A quipu, or khipu, is a record-keeping device of knotted cords of cotton or camelid fibre, first undisputedly attested in the central Andes in the Middle Horizon, c. 600–1000 CE, when it was probably used by the Wari Empire. The Inca stored numbers in its knots in a decimal positional system and used quipus for taxes, censuses and the calendar. How quipus recorded non-numeric information remains undeciphered and disputed; just under 1,400 pre-Columbian examples are known.

Quipu
Image: Lyndsaruell at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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First known
c. 600–1000 CE
Where
The central Andes
Credited to
Wari Empire

NoteA possible proto-quipu from Caral, of 3000–1800 BCE, has yet to be evaluated.

Built onCottonc. 6000 BCE

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See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Quipu. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/quipu
MLA
“Quipu.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/quipu. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Quipu.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/quipu.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Quipu’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/quipu (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻