AS075/KH0088

Original Author: Marcia & Robert Ascher
Museum: Musee de l Homme, Paris, France
Museum Number: 64.19.1.5
Provenance: Unknown
Region: Pachacamac 		Total Number of Cords: 186
Number of Ascher Cord Colors: 6
Similar Khipu:  Previous (AS074)  Next (UR111)
Catalog: AS075
Khipu Notes: Khipu Notes

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Khipu Notes

Ascher Databook Notes:
  1. Construction note: Five markers are used on the khipu.The first three have the same colors and construction, the last two differ from these and from each other.
  2. AS074-AS080 are associated. See AS074 for discussion.
  3. By spacing, color pattern, and markers 1, 2, 3, the khipu is separated into 5 parts: Part I consists of 1 group of 7 pendants and Parts II, III, IV, Veach consist of 8 groups of 5 or 6 pendants each.
  4. The 32 groups of Parts II-V all have the same color pattern: BS(if present), YB, YB, YB, MB, B. The first position (BS) never exists in Part V and sometimes exists in the other parts.
  5. Some numerical consistencies appear on the khipu.
    1. All values are 0-3 in Part II, 0-4 in Part III, and 0-5 in Part V.
    2. In Part II, positions 5 and 6 are all zero-valued. In Part V, position 2 is always zero-valued. /li>
    3. In the second, third, fourth, and eighth groups of Part III, pendants 2, 3, 4 are con­secutive values. /li>
    4. The following relationships hold for all 8 groups of Part IV: P4>P3≥P6≥P5 and P4>P2.
  6. The pendants in Part I contain as many as two or three values. For example, 3s knots followed by 21 knots followed by 5s knots followed by 21 knots is inter­preted as 32 then 52. This type of multiple value is only found on this part of the khipu. The 7 pendants in Part I also do not have the same color pattern as the other 32 groups. This part of the khipu seems to be some kind of sunnnary group. Values in it can be associated with values in the other parts in several ways, none of which accounts for all the values. For example 15 & 12 appears on an MB colored pendant--the sum of the MB colored pendants in Parts II & III is 15 and the sum of the MB colored pendants in Parts IV & Vis 12. Also, if the eight groups in Part III are summed position by position, the sums are?, 9, 12, 18, 15, 11. Each of these values is found in Part I.
  7. Part V is further divided into groups of 3, 3, 2 by markers 4 and 5. These markers do not seem to be very carefully constructed - one is a prepared blank pendant - or carefully attached. Since no space separates the third from fourth group and the sixth from seventh group, the markers may have been used for group separators.