AS069/KH0082

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Khipu Notes Exist - See Below

Original Author: Marcia & Robert Ascher
Museum: owner Percy Dauelsberg, Arica, Chile
Museum Number: 4
Provenance: Unknown
Region: Lluta Valley
Total Number of Cords: 1831
Number of Ascher Cord Colors: 41
Benford Match: 0.123
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Datafile: AS069

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Khipu Notes

Ascher Databook Notes:
  1. Construction note: About 20.0 cm. of the main cord is tied into one large knot.
  2. Both P633s1 and its subsidiary are tied to the bottom of P633.
  3. Construction note: the designation l indicates a specially constructed knot. This type of knot is used several times on this khipu.
  4. Pendants 277 and 278 are tied together at the bottom.
  5. Construction note: Marker 244 is a cord of 10.0 cm. that has been passed through the strands of the main cord, bent, and knotted.
  6. Construction note: Pendant cords of one color have been threaded with cords of another color.
    1. Some of the threading begins at the top of the cord and continues for about 2.0 cm. These have been labeled X*Y where X is the pendant color and Y the threading color. In appearance, these are similar to a mottled cord joined to a single color cord (X:Y)/X.
    2. Where the threading begins about 5.0 cm. from the main cord and goes for about 2.0 cm., the appearance is X/(X:Y)/X. These have been labeled X*Y*, where X is the pendant color and Y the threading color.
    3. On some pendants, the threading appears in 2 places on the cord. It begins at the top and goes for about 2.0 cm. then starts again about 5. 0 cm. later for another 2.0 cm. In appearance, these are similar to (X:Y)/X/(X:Y)/X. These have been labeled X*Y**.
    4. In some cases, the threading appears more like "barber-pole" twisting of X-Y rather than the mottled X:Y. Depending on where the threading is, these are labeled X*Y, X*Y*, or X*Y**.
  7. AS069, KH0083, and AS071 were excavated by their owner, Percy Dauelsberg, in 1965. For a discussion of the collection, see #15 below.
  8. A photograph of this khipu is in Ascher (1975).
  9. Basically the khipu consists of groups of 6 or 7 pendant cords of color W separated by multicolored pendants. The multicolored pendants have been designated as markers. Of 212 groups of pendants, 206 of them have 6 or 7 pendants each, 3 (those following M205, M232, and M241) have 5 pendants each, and 3 (those following M30, M146, and M242) have 12, 14, and 13 pendants respectively.
  10. Most of the pendants are zero-valued (or blank). The groups in which all pendants and subsidiaries are zero-valued are those which follow markers 2, 21, 30-31, 38, 41-42, 45-47, 58-60, 64, 68, 70, 73, 76, 82, 84, 86, 92,95-96, 107, 109, 113, 120-121, 124, 138, 142, 152-155, 164, 166, 168, 170, 173-174, 178-179, 182, 187, 191, 195, 199-200, 205, 207, 213, 215-217, 219, 221, 223, 226-228, 230, and 232-242.
  11. All but 5 of the markers are zero-valued. The markers with values on them are 36, M37, M39, M40, and M43. The values on M40 and M43 are the sums of the values in the pendant groups that follow them.
  12. In some cases, the markers have no pendant groups between them. There are as many as 5 consecutive markers. Markers which are immediately followed by another are markers 1, 14, 23, 33, 50-52, 56, 71-7 2, 77-79, 103-106, 125-127, 132, 135, 149, 161, 180-181, 185, 188, 211, and 214.
  13. The markers follow a more or less consistent color pattern. There are basically 27 marker colors which reappear in the same order. In a few places a color is skipped or one is added, and in a few other places the pattern stops and then picks up at a different point in the cycle.
    Table 1 facilitates a description of the color cycle and the exceptions to it. The colors in the cycle are labeled A-Z, !, a, b.
    IA non-existent color is designated --, an additional color is +, a modified version of the basic color is primed ( ex. A'), and the column heading indicates the first marker number in the cycle.
    1. Note that there are 2 partial cycles (Ml-M24), and then 7 complete cycles from M25-M213. If M230-M233 were interspersed with M242-M243 and followed M234-M241, there would be another complete cycle plus a partial cycle leaving off where Ml begins.
    2. The colors FB and KB appear to be interchangeable (see D and T in the color order) as do HB and GR (see E and S in the color order).
    3. Note X in the color order. In most places it has a subsidiary. In one place the subsidiary color precedes it as a pendant, in another replaces it, and in still another, exchanges positions with it. Similarly, J usually follows I in the color order, but in 2 places it becomes I ' s subsidiary instead.
  14. Referring pendant groups to their place in the marker cycle, we note that:
    1. Two of the groups with more than 7 pendants are related to nonexistent markers. (Ml.46 is L and there is no M in the cycle starting M135. Also M242 is A and there is no B in the cycle starting M242.) The other group with 12 pendants follows M30 which is an addition to the color cycle.
    2. With one exception, when there are subsidiaries on pendants in groups following W*SY markers (0 in the color order), they are all colored W*SR.
    3. Whenever there are subsidiaries on pendants in groups following GR or HB markers (E in the color order), they are all the same colors (with the exception of 2 subsidiaries in 1 group). Where there is only 1 subsidiary, it is FB:W(or KB:W); where there are 2, they are FB:W(or KB:W) and BS or HB and W; and where there are 4, they are FB:W(or KB:W), BS, HB, and W. It is interesting to observe that in the one place where subsidiaries have been added to an HB marker (M57), they are 2 of the above subsidiary colors. In these groups there are always 7 pendants, the last pendant is always zero-valued (or blank), and the order of magnitude of the non-zero values is larger than most of the other values on the khipu.
  15. Discussion of Arica collection: AS69, AS70, and AS71 were excavated by their owner in 1965. Their provenance is the Lluta Valley. These khipus are, by far, in the best state of preservation of all in this Databook. The excavated collection also included a set of cords and another khipu.
    1. The cord set contains 34 pendant blanks and 3 pendants with knot clusters. All of them are colors that are used on AS69-71.
    2. The other khipu (owner's #2) is not listed in the Databook. The following is a general description of it. Starting at the twisted end of the main cord, there are 102 pendants. Their colors are: 1 BS, 17 KB:W & FB:W, 2 W, 6 KB:W & FB:W, 2W, 48 KB:W & FB:W, 1 short cord of KB, 1 KB:W, 1 short cord of KB, and 23 KB:W & FB:W. Some pendants have as many as 8 subsidiaries which in turn have subsidiaries. There are about 400 subsidiaries on the 102 pendants. The pendants and subsidiaries contain as many as 3 knot clusters each. The pendants take up about 51.0 cm.
    3. AS069 and KH0083 are similar in that they both are groups of W colored pendants separated by colored markers. On both of them, there is the occasional appearance of a specially formed 3 knot and a few knots with colors threaded through them. On AS069, KH0083, and AS071 the colors of the cords have been created in the same way from the same individual colors. Also, HB & GR and FB & KB appear interchangeably.

  16. Table 1
    117255379106135161188214230242
    AKB-WAA'AAAAAAA--A
    BW*BSBBBBBBBBBB--
    CW*BS*CCCCCCCCCC--
    DD*BS or FB*BS--D'DDDDDDD--D
    EBB or GREEE_+,+EEEEEEEY
    FSR/WFFFFFFFFFFF
    GW*KBGGGGGGGG'GG
    HaW*SY:FB_W•BSH'--H_aH_aH_aH_aH_aH_aH_aH'_a--
    IW*SR:VBII'II'I_jIIII_JI'
    JW*SR:SY----JJ----JJ--J
    KD:W*SRKKKKKKKKKK
    LBS:W or BS-W++LLL+LLLLL
    MW*0G**MMMM'M--MMM
    NW*0GNNNNNNNNN
    OW*SYOOO'OOOO0O
    PW*SR:0G* or W!SR:GY--P----PPPPP
    QW*FB**QQQQQQQQ
    RW*FB*RRRRRRRR
    SW*GR* or W*HB*SSSS+SSSS
    TBS:FB/W or BS:D/WTTTTTTT'TT
    UBS/WUUU'UUUU'UU
    VW*SY**--VVV'VVVVV
    WSR:SY:0G/W--WW+W+WWW'W'W'
    XbW*KB *W•SR*X'XbXbbXbXbbXXbXb
    YW*SR:SY:0G*--YYYY'Y'YYY
    ZSY:FB/W--ZZZZZZTZ
    !SY:KB/W--!!!!!!U!

Primary Cord Notes:
About 20.0 cm of the main cord is tied in one large knot.