Quipu: knotted-cord records, ordered burned in 1583 (Andes; Third Council of Lima, 1583)
Record: the document says itPattern: documents line upLens: our readingOpen: not yet provenDisputed: argued, often by a hostile witness
Year: 1583 · Places: South America
SUMMARYQuipu: knotted-cord records, ordered burned in 1583 (Andes; Third Council of Lima, 1583) [Connections: Tech of the Americas, Nov 5, 2026]
RECORDWikipedia: quipus used "knots tied in a decimal positional system" for "tax obligations," "census records," military and calendar data. Just under 1,400 survive (2021 survey). In 1583 the Third Council of Lima banned some quipus and ordered them burned as "idolatrous objects and an obstacle to religious conversion." Whether they also record language is disputed: Gary Urton proposes a binary system that "could record phonological or logographic data"; Sabine Hyland claims a "first phonetic decipherment" of colonial-era quipus from San Juan de Collata. Ruth Shady's claim of a 5,000-year-old proto-quipu at Caral "has yet to be thoroughly evaluated." HOSTILE
WITNESSa church council
PATTERNA working data system for an empire of millions was outlawed by a named body, then later called "not writing."
LENS (WW9)The census was ours before the census-taker came