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The NewScientist has an update on the work to interpret the Inca khipus, or chains of knots, which are known to have been used for accounting. Now it is looking likely that the khipus were a full writing system containing narratives, but that they must be read through sense of touch not just vision.
Under strict supervision, Hyland set about photographing the cords, reviewing the manuscripts and taking notes. Each khipu had hundreds of pendant cords, and they were more colourful and complex than anything she had ever seen. It was clear the various animal fibres used could only be identified by touch. The villagers told her the khipus were the "language of animals" and insisted that the different fibres have significance.
Her analysis eventually revealed that the pendants came in 95 different combinations of colour, fibre type and direction of ply. That is within the range of symbols typically found in syllabic writing systems, where a set of signs (say, the letters C-A-T) aligns with the sound of speech (the word "cat"). "I thought 'Woah, could this be a syllabic writing system?'," says Hyland. She has since hypothesised that the khipus contain a combination of phonetic symbols and ideographic ones, where a symbol represents a whole word.
Earlier this year, Hyland even managed to read a little of the khipus. When deciphering anything, one of the most important steps is to work out what information might be repeated in different places, she says. Because the Collata khipus were thought to be letters, they probably encoded senders and recipients. That is where Hyland started. She knew from the villagers that the primary cord of one of the khipus contained ribbons representing the insignia of one of two clan leaders.
Earlier in SN:
Harvard Student Helps Crack Mystery of Inca Code (2018)
Twisted Textile Cords May Contain Clues to Inca Messages (2017)
(Score: 4, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 30 2018, @01:08PM (6 children)
Technically speaking, they still could not write.
"We thought the Europeans couldn't tie knot. These letters change everything."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 30 2018, @04:11PM
What you expect from millineial "journalist"? "NewScientist" as in NewSpeak, where whatever they say is the exact fucking oppossite of reality.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Immerman on Friday November 30 2018, @04:31PM (3 children)
Technically, they could.
From Merriam-webster:
Definition of writing
Or from Wikipedia:
Nothing about marks of graphite or ink on paper. The important component is the recording of verbal information in a visual medium. Cuniform pressed into clay tablets is writing. Hieroglyphs carved in stone are writing. And knots tied into khipus are writing.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday November 30 2018, @05:06PM
I rarely write anything with graphite or ink on paper... electronic bits translated to phosphors on a screen? All the time. What evidence of my writing will survive the collapse of electrical power generation? Not much since I quit buying toner cartridges.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 30 2018, @05:59PM (1 child)
I don't see letters or characters being mentioned, unless you want to dilute the meaning of
to such an extent that even sign language becomes an act of writing (which is speaking + visible).
I do not like abusing words and their meanings to white-wash over truth. Incas tied knots to achieve what we did by writing. May be they created elaborate mystic novels like the Bible, but lets not support click-baity delivery of science.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Saturday December 01 2018, @03:43PM
What makes you think a particular shape of knot is any less a letter or character than a particular shaped squiggle of ink, or a particular pattern of wedge-shaped indentations in clay? Especially if all three convey the same kind of information. It doesn't even have to actually be a syllabic system to qualify, unless you think the Chinese don't have a written language?
It's not like elaborate novels are a requirement for writing - our own style of writing was originally used to keep track of taxes and debts, gradually expanded into recording government business, and had been in use for centuries before there's evidence of anyone recording a story.
As for sign language, it's a strange one. I would venture the opinion that since it is entirely dynamic multidimensional language that cannot create any sort of record, it would not qualify. Heck, people are still trying to develop a written form for that purpose, my understanding is that they've had some success, but not yet enough to properly record the key components of a typical conversation.
(Score: 5, Funny) by TheFool on Friday November 30 2018, @05:01PM
Yeah, we were right all along - they can knot write.