Overlooked book may decipher Quipu | Hacker News Reader

Overlooked book may decipher Quipu

ticotimes.net

25 pointsJ3L24047 comments

"'Quipus can be traced back to China, and the fact that our indigenous people also utilized the quipu as a means of communication implies there should have been a direct contact among the two cultures,' said Vega."

I call B.S. on this. I've studied Chinese history extensively (Chinese language was my undergraduate major, along with many elective courses in linguistics) and there is no evidence that knotted cords (attested in a few ancient Chinese texts for keeping tallies) had any role in recording language. There is also not good evidence of any pre-Columbian trade or other contact between China and Central America.

Apparently other people think there is a connection. I'm not sure what the sources are, but it seems there are a few places that had similar things.

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-239461704.html?key=01-42160D...

The Romans used knotted strings for tax collecting at least into the second century A.D., and there are references to a quipu-like system used in China around 500 B.C. Knotted strings are still used in rural areas of Okinawa, Hawaii, and West Africa.

Indeed, it's very common for something to be invented independently in different places. (Some would go farther, citing evidence that independent simultaneous invention is, in fact, the rule rather than the exception.)

Further reading: http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2009/08/progression_o...

A better way to say this would be: knotted cords are definitely attested in classical Chinese texts, they just tend to be the kind of texts that aren't trustworthy as actual history. The standard mythical history of Chinese says that knotted cords predated written language, and that a mythical figure invented the Chinese writing system after observing the tracks of birds.

Given widespread evidence of cord-tying used to keep tallies, it sounds like this doesn't prove any connection to anything.

This article made my hair stand on end. If the discovery holds up — and keep in mind that the Talamanca had 300+ years of contact with the Spanish, plus a millennium of contact with the Maya, both of whom had written languages — it could be an additional independent invention of written language.

We currently know of three or possibly four independent inventions of writing: China, Sumer, possibly Egypt, and Maya. This could add a fourth (or fifth).

Unfortunately, the vast majority of the khipu were burned by the Spanish centuries ago. Most of the 751 known to survive are only a few centuries old. Ruth Shady reports one anomalous khipu of 5000 years of age; if that discovery holds up, the khipu would represent an independent invention of written numbers, and possibly written language, nearly as old as Sumer's, and far older than the writing systems of China, Egypt, and the Maya.

In short, this could be a very significant discovery in the history of digital technology.

  Despite the scientific impact of their discovery, both León
  and Vega agreed to end their research and allow other
  academics to take over. After five years working on the 
  project, they are ready to let it go and allow other 
  experts continue the research.

this seems bizarre to me. it cannot be a matter of funding. they've spent 5 years gathering a great deal of expertise, and now decide to quit just when momentum has built up? they could instead seek collaborations on future work, if they want other people to work on this direction. otherwise there is likely a lot of catching up to do that is perhaps intimidating.

I think this is exactly one of the best reasons for services like Google Books to exist. While I won't assert that digitization of content makes it easily accessible, it's certainly more easily accessible than some book nobody knows to look for.

If this were digitized, then the possibility of finding it through a Google search becomes significantly greater.

Changing gears, having never heard of quipu before, I found this article hugely informative and entertaining to read.

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