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© Bruce M. White, 2011.
Single-Strand Khipu (Knot-Writing Device)
© Bruce M. White, 2011.
© Bruce M. White, 2011.
© Bruce M. White, 2011.
ClassificationsArt of the Americas

Single-Strand Khipu (Knot-Writing Device)

Place CreatedSouth America
CultureInka, Neo-Inka, or Spanish
PeriodLate Horizon - Colonial
Dateca. 1508-1652 CE
MediumPlant fibers (furcraea andina)
Credit LineEx coll. C. Clay and Virginia Aldridge
Dimensions78 in. (198.1 cm)
Object number2002.001.040
Exhibition HistoryThreads of Time: Tradition and Change in Indigenous American Textiles, Michael C. Carlos Museum, August 19 - December 17, 2017
Published ReferencesMCCM Newsletter, September - November 2002.
Threads of Time: Tradition and Change in Indigenous American Textiles, 2017, http://threads-of-time.carlos.emory.edu/items/show/50.
ProvenanceEx coll. Curtice M. Clay Aldridge (1910-2003), Columbus, Georgia.
Status
Not on view
Collections
  • Art of the Americas
Technical NotesThe single strand from a khipu measures approximately 2-3mm in diameter and is constructed from a 2-ply bundled cord, which is wrapped with an additional bundled cord, which includes occasional blue fibers. Small samples of these blue fibers were examined using a polarizing light microscope and characterized as animal fibers, perhaps wool or camelid. The deteriorated condition of the scale pattern prevented identification of the species. Small samples from the bundled cord and wrapping fibers were identified by microscopy techniques as Furcraea andina. A small sample of the cord fiber was analyzed by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) and stable isotope ratio analysis at the University of Georgia Center for Applied Isotope Studies. The resulting radiocarbon (C-14) calibrated date is between 1508-1652 CE.