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72-484: A quipu usually consisted of cotton or camelid fiber strings, and contained categorized information based on three dimensions of color, order and number. The Inca people used quipu for collecting data and keeping records, for monitoring tax obligations, for collecting census records, for calendrical information, for military organization, and potentially for simple and stereotyped historical "annales". The cords stored numeric and other values encoded as knots, often in

144-406: A quipu or perhaps proto-quipu believed to be around 5,000 years old in the coastal city of Caral . It was in quite good condition, with "brown cotton strings wound around thin sticks", along with "a series of offerings, including mysterious fiber balls of different sizes wrapped in 'nets' and pristine reed baskets. Piles of raw cotton – uncombed and containing seeds, though turned a dirty brown by

216-515: A semasiographic language, a system of representative symbols – such as music notation or numerals  – that relay information but are not directly related to the speech sounds of a particular language, like ideograms and proto-writing . Most recently, Sabine Hyland claims to have made the first phonetic decipherment of a quipu, challenging the assumption that quipus do not represent information phonetically. After being contacted by local woman Meche Moreyra Orozco,

288-469: A code, much as we use numbers to identify individuals, places, or things. The Khipu Database Project, for example, decoded that a particular three-number label at the beginning of some quipus may refer to Puruchuco , similar to a ZIP code . Other aspects of a quipu could have communicated information as well: color-coding, relative placement of cords, spacing, and the structure of cords and sub-cords. Some have argued that far more than numeric information

360-434: A decimal positional system . A quipu could have only a few or thousands of cords. The configuration of the quipu has been "compared to string mops". Archaeological evidence has also shown the use of finely carved wood as a supplemental, and perhaps sturdier, base to which the color-coded cords could be attached. A relatively small number have survived. Objects that can be identified unambiguously as quipu first appear in

432-584: A list of many words present in quipus . However, both Bruce Mannheim, the director of the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Michigan , and Colgate University 's Gary Urton, question its origin and authenticity. These documents seem to be inspired freely by a 1751 writing of Raimondo di Sangro, Prince of Sansevero . Quipucamayocs (Quechua khipu kamayuq , "khipu-authority"),

504-475: A method of calculation and social organization, regulating regional governance and land use. While evidence for the latter is still under the critical eye of scholars around the world, the very fact that they are kept to this day without any confirmed level of fluent literacy in the system is testament to its historical 'moral authority.' Today, "khipu" is regarded as a powerful symbol of heritage, only 'unfurled' and handled by 'pairs of [contemporary] dignitaries,' as

576-673: A number of statistical tests for quipu sample VA 42527, one study led by Alberto Sáez-Rodríguez discovered that the distribution and patterning of S- and Z-knots can organize the information system from a real star map of the Pleiades cluster. Laura Minelli, a professor of pre-Columbian studies at the University of Bologna , has discovered something which she believed to be a seventeenth-century Jesuit manuscript that describes literary quipus , titled Historia et Rudimenta Linguae Piruanorum . This manuscript consists of nine folios with Spanish, Latin , and ciphered Italian texts. Owned by

648-496: A recommendation letter. Urton responded that the allegations were "either untrue, inaccurate, or misleading". More allegations emerged following the publication of the investigation. UC-San Diego professor Jade d'Alpoim Guedes alleged that Urton had inappropriately propositioned her for sex while she was a graduate student at Harvard. It was also alleged that Urton harassed students at his field school in San Jose de Moro, and

720-640: A result of changing environmental conditions after the last ice age, or a combination of these factors. Three species groups survived - the dromedary of northern Africa and southwest Asia; the Bactrian camel of central Asia; and the South American group, which has now diverged into a range of forms that are closely related, but usually classified as four species - llamas , alpacas , guanacos , and vicuñas . Camelids were domesticated by early Andean peoples, and remain in use today. Fossil camelids show

792-425: A systematic way. For instance, a cord may contain the sum of the next n cords, and this relationship is repeated throughout the quipu . Sometimes there are sums of sums as well. Such a relationship would be very improbable if the knots were incorrectly read. Some data items are not numbers but what Ascher and Ascher call number labels . They are still composed of digits, but the resulting number seems to be used as

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864-404: A unique type of antibodies , which lack the light chain, in addition to the normal antibodies found in other mammals. These so-called heavy-chain antibodies are being used to develop single-domain antibodies with potential pharmaceutical applications. Camelids do not have hooves; rather, they have two-toed feet with toenails and soft foot pads ( Tylopoda is Greek for "padded foot"). Most of

936-604: A variety of situations. Even though some quipus have hundreds of cords, each cord should be assessed and treated individually. Quipu cords can be "mechanically cleaned with brushes, small tools and light vacuuming". Just as the application of fungicides is not recommended to rid quipus of mold, neither is the use of solvents to clean them. Even when people have tried to preserve quipus , corrective care may still be required. If quipus are to be conserved close to their place of origin, local camelid or wool fibres in natural colors can be obtained and used to mend breaks and splits in

1008-443: A wider variety than their modern counterparts. One North American genus, Titanotylopus , stood 3.5 m at the shoulder, compared with about 2.0 m for the largest modern camelids. Other extinct camelids included small, gazelle-like animals, such as Stenomylus . Finally, a number of very tall, giraffe-like camelids were adapted to feeding on leaves from high trees, including such genera as Aepycamelus and Oxydactylus . Whether

1080-419: Is almost the inverse of their area of origin. Camelids first appeared very early in the evolution of the even-toed ungulates, around 50 to 40 million years ago during the middle Eocene , in present-day North America. Among the earliest camelids was the rabbit-sized Protylopus , which still had four toes on each foot. By the late Eocene , around 35 million years ago, camelids such as Poebrotherium had lost

1152-496: Is an American anthropologist . He was the Dumbarton Oaks Professor of Pre-Columbian Studies at Harvard University and the chair of its anthropology department between 2012 and 2019. Urton retired from Harvard in 2020, after multiple former students accused him of sexual harassment . Despite much controversy and opposition, he was given an emeritus title after retirement. Following internal investigation, Urton

1224-436: Is generally thought that the system did not include phonetic symbols analogous to letters of the alphabet. However, Gary Urton has suggested that the quipus used a binary system which could record phonological or logographic data. His student Manny Medrano has gone further to find quipus that decode to match census data. According to Martti Pärssinen , quipucamayocs would learn specific oral texts , which in relation to

1296-574: Is present and that quipus are a writing system . This would be an especially important discovery as there is no surviving record of written Quechua predating the Spanish invasion . Possible reasons for this apparent absence of a written language include destruction by the Spanish of all written records, or the successful concealment by the Inca peoples of those records. Making the matter even more complex,

1368-562: Is the word for 'knot' in Cusco Quechua . Most Quechua varieties use the term kipu . Quipu is a Quechua word meaning 'knot' or 'to knot'. The terms quipu and khipu are simply spelling variations on the same word. Quipu is the traditional spelling based on the Spanish orthography , while khipu reflects the recent Quechuan and Aymaran spelling shift . "The khipu were knotted-string devices that were used for recording both statistical and narrative information, most notably by

1440-586: The Great American Interchange ), giving rise to the modern llamas. A population of Paracamelus continued living in North America and evolved into the high arctic camel , which survived until the middle Pleistocene. The original camelids of North America remained common until the quite recent geological past, but then disappeared, possibly as a result of hunting or habitat alterations by the earliest human settlers , and possibly as

1512-608: The Province of Oyón , keep a quipu in an old ceremonial building, the Kaha Wayi , that is itself surrounded by a walled architectural complex. Also within the complex is a disused communal storehouse, known as the Pasa Qullqa , which was formerly used to protect and redistribute the local crops, and some Rapacinos believe that the quipu was once a record of this process of collecting and redistributing food. The entire complex

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1584-722: The molars by a gap. As in ruminants, the upper incisors are largely absent and are replaced by a dental pad consisting of connective tissue covered with epithelium . The musculature of the hind limbs differs from those of other ungulates in that the legs are attached to the body only at the top of the thigh, rather than attached by skin and muscle from the knee upwards. Because of this, camelids have to lie down by resting on their knees with their legs tucked underneath their bodies. They have three-chambered stomachs , rather than four-chambered ones; their upper lips are split in two, with each part separately mobile; and, uniquely among mammals, their red blood cells are elliptical. They also have

1656-484: The order Artiodactyla , along with species including whales , pigs , deer , cattle , and antelopes . Camelids are large, strictly herbivorous animals with slender necks and long legs. They differ from ruminants in a number of ways. Their dentition show traces of vestigial central incisors in the incisive bone , and the third incisors have developed into canine-like tusks. Camelids also have true canine teeth and tusk-like premolars , which are separated from

1728-557: The quipu ( khipu ) rope-based recording system used in the Inca empire in the 15th and 16th centuries. He is one of the most prominent advocates of the theory that the quipus encode linguistic as well as numerical information. He is a class of 2000 MacArthur Fellow . According to an investigation by The Harvard Crimson , Urton was the subject of a sexual harassment complaint from a former student in 2016. The student alleged that Urton "pressured her into 'unwelcome sex'" in exchange for

1800-630: The American cultural anthropologist Frank Salomon conducted a study in the Peruvian village of Tupicocha, where quipus are still an important part of the social life of the village. As of 1994, this was the only known village where quipus with a structure similar to pre-Columbian quipus were still used for official local government record-keeping and functions, although the villagers did not associate their quipus with Inca artifacts. The villagers of San Cristóbal de Rapaz (known as Rapacinos), located in

1872-468: The Aschers’ system, a fourth type of knot—figure-eight knot with an extra twist—is referred to as "EE". A number is represented as a sequence of knot clusters in base 10. For example, if 4s represents four simple knots, 3L represents a long knot with three turns, E represents a figure-eight knot and X represents a space: This reading can be confirmed by a fortunate fact: quipus regularly contain sums in

1944-614: The Bactrian camel are even able to drink brackish water , and some herds live in nuclear test areas. Comparative table of the seven extant species in the family Camelidae: ( Camelus bactrianus ) ( Camelus dromedarius ) ( Camelus ferus ) ( Lama glama ) ( Lama guanicoe ) ( Lama pacos ) ( Lama vicugna ) L. glama L. guanicoe V. vicugna V. pacos C. bactrianus C. dromedarius C. kansanus C. hesternus C. minodokae Camelids are unusual in that their modern distribution

2016-428: The Inca 'kept separate "khipu" for each province, on which a pendant string recorded the number of people belonging to each category.' This creates yet another step in the process of decryption in addition to the Spanish attempts at eradicating the system. Historians Edward Hyams and George Ordish believe quipus were recording devices, similar to musical notation, in that the notes on the page present basic information, and

2088-400: The Inca but also by other peoples of the central Andes from pre-Incaic times, through the colonial and republican eras, and even – in a considerably transformed and attenuated form – down to the present day." Archaeologist Gary Urton , 2003. The quipus held information, decipherable by officials called quipucamayocs, classified in various categories, narrated from the most important to

2160-697: The Inka Khipu that he estimated "from my own studies and from the published works of other scholars that there are about 600 extant quipu in public and private collections around the world." According to the Khipu Database Project undertaken by Harvard University professor Gary Urton and his colleague Carrie Brezine, 751 quipus have been reported to exist across the globe. Their whereabouts range from Europe to North and South America . Most are housed in museums outside of their native countries, but some reside in their native locations under

2232-410: The Spanish conquest of Peru . According to Cumis, since so many quipus were burned by the Spanish, very few remained for him to analyze. As related in the manuscript, the word Pacha Kamaq , the Inca deity of earth and time, was used many times in these quipus , where the syllables were represented by symbols formed in the knots. Following the analysis of the use of "Pacha Kamaq", the manuscript offers

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2304-526: The University’s Office for Dispute Resolution arrived at the conclusion that Urton “engaged in unwelcome sexual conduct and abused power with individuals over whom he had professional responsibility.” The University's leadership revocated Urton of his emeritus status, he is now barred from teaching and advising undergraduate or Graduate School of Arts and Sciences students; availing himself of Faculty of Arts and Sciences amenities or resources; and accessing

2376-506: The accountants of Tawantin Suyu , created and deciphered the quipu knots. Quipucamayocs could carry out basic arithmetic operations, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. They kept track of mita , a form of taxation . The quipucamayocs also tracked the type of labor being performed, maintained a record of economic output , and ran a census that counted everyone from infants to "old blind men over 80". The system

2448-509: The ages – and a ball of cotton thread" were also found preserved. The good condition of these articles can be attributed to the arid climate of Caral. Camelidae Camelids are members of the biological family Camelidae , the only currently living family in the suborder Tylopoda . The seven extant members of this group are: dromedary camels , Bactrian camels , wild Bactrian camels , llamas , alpacas , vicuñas , and guanacos . Camelids are even-toed ungulates classified in

2520-443: The animal fibers and colors of the relevant quipu cords. Marcia Ascher and Robert Ascher, after having analyzed several hundred quipus , have shown that most information on quipus is numeric, and these numbers can be read. Each cluster of knots is a digit, and there are three main types of knots: simple overhand knots ; "long knots", consisting of an overhand knot with one or more additional turns ; and figure-eight knots . In

2592-566: The anthropology department received further complaints that were not made public. After 25 faculty members and nearly 400 students signed letters calling for his resignation, Urton retired from Harvard in July 2020. In June 2021, the Harvard Office for Dispute Resolution concluded that Urton had engaged in unwelcome sexual conduct and abused power with individuals over whom he had professional responsibility. In response to these findings Urton

2664-583: The archaeological record of the first millennium AD, though it is debated whether the 3rd-millennium BC Caral–Supe civilization developed an analogous system of knotted cords. ) Quipu subsequently played a key part in the administration of the Kingdom of Cusco of the 13th to 15th centuries, and later of the Inca Empire (1438–1533), flourishing across the Andes from c.  1100 to 1532. As

2736-520: The basic information contained in quipu, and pictorial representations, often painted on quiru vessels, similar to aztec pictograms , related simple "episodes". The lack of a clear link between any indigenous Peruvian languages and the quipus has historically led to the supposition that quipus are not a glottographic writing system and have no phonetic referent. Frank Salomon at the University of Wisconsin has argued that quipus are actually

2808-474: The building that it was in, due to their increasingly poor condition. In 1912 anthropologist Leslie Leland Locke published "The Ancient Quipu, A Peruvian Knot Record," American Anthropologist, New Series I4 (1912) 325–332. This was the first work to show how the Inca (Inka) Empire and its predecessor societies used the quipu (Khipu) for mathematical and accounting records in the decimal system. The archaeologist Gary Urton noted in his 2003 book Signs of

2880-772: The care of the descendants of those who made the knot records. A table of the largest collections is shown below. While patrimonial quipu collections have not been accounted for in this database, their numbers are likely to be unknown. One prominent patrimonial collection held by the Rapazians of Rapaz, Peru, was recently researched by University of Wisconsin–Madison professor, Frank Salomon. Quipus are made of fibers , either spun and plied thread such as wool or hair from alpaca , llama , guanaco or vicuña , though are also commonly made of cellulose like cotton . The knotted strings of quipus were often made with an "elaborate system of knotted cords, dyed in various colors,

2952-557: The cords. Rosa Choque Gonzales and Rosalia Choque Gonzales, conservators from southern Peru, worked to conserve the Rapaz patrimonial quipus in the Andean village of Rapaz, Peru. These quipus had undergone repair in the past, so this conservator team used new local camelid and wool fibers to spin around the area under repair in a similar fashion to the earlier repairs found on the quipu. When Gary Urton, professor of Anthropology at Harvard,

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3024-453: The existence of quipus in their written records about the invasion. The earliest known example comes from Hernando Pizarro , the brother of the Spanish military leader Francisco Pizarro , who recorded an encounter that he and his men had in 1533 as they traveled along the royal road from the highlands to the central coast. It was during this journey that they encountered several quipu keepers, later relating that these keepers "untied some of

3096-417: The family of Neapolitan historian Clara Miccinelli, the manuscript also includes a wool quipu fragment. Miccinelli believes that the text was written by two Italian Jesuit missionaries, Joan Antonio Cumis and Giovanni Anello Oliva, around 1610–1638, and Blas Valera , a mestizo Jesuit sometime before 1618. Along with the details of reading literary quipus , the documents also discuss the events and people of

3168-415: The fibres and make them brittle. Damp conditions and high humidity can damage protein-rich material. Textiles suffer damage from ultraviolet (UV) light, which can include fading and weakening of the fibrous material. When quipus are on display, their exposure to ambient conditions is usually minimized and closely monitored. Damage can occur during storage. The more accessible the items are during storage,

3240-444: The foot. Many fossil camelids were unguligrade and probably hooved, in contrast to all living species. Camelids are behaviorally similar in many ways, including their walking gait, in which both legs on the same side are moved simultaneously. While running, camelids engage a unique "running pace gait" in which limbs on the same side move in the same pattern they walk, with both left legs moving and then both right, which ensures that

3312-473: The fore and hind limb will not collide while in fast motion. During this motion, all four limbs momentarily are off the ground at the same time. Consequently, camelids large enough for human beings to ride have a typical swaying motion. Dromedary camels, bactrian camels, llamas, and alpacas are all induced ovulators . The three Afro-Asian camel species have developed extensive adaptations to their lives in harsh, near-waterless environments. Wild populations of

3384-460: The greater the chance of early detection. Storing quipus horizontally on boards covered with a neutral pH paper (paper that is neither acid or alkaline ) to prevent potential acid transfer is a preservation technique that extends the life of a collection. The fibers can be abraded by rubbing against each other or, for those attached to sticks or rods, by their own weight if held in an upright position. Extensive handling of quipus can also increase

3456-531: The head of the Association of Collatinos in Lima, Hyland was granted access to the epistolary quipus of San Juan de Collata. These quipus were exchanged during an 18th-century rebellion against the Spanish government. A combination of color, fiber and ply direction leads to a total of 95 combinations in these quipus , which is within the range of a logosyllabic writing system . Exchanging information about

3528-484: The journal Science includes a report titled "Khipu Accounting in Ancient Peru" by anthropologist Gary Urton and mathematician Carrie J. Brezine . Their work may represent the first identification of a quipu element for a non-numeric concept, a sequence of three figure-eight knots at the start of a quipu that seems to be a unique signifier. It could be a toponym for the city of Puruchuco (near Lima ), or

3600-486: The knots which they had in the deposits section [of the khipu], and they [re-]tied them in another section [of the khipu]." Christian officials of the Third Council of Lima banned and ordered the burning of some Quipus in 1583 because they were used to record offerings to non-Christian gods and were therefore considered idolatrous objects and an obstacle to religious conversion. The quipu system operated as both

3672-422: The least important category, according to colour, number, and order. Most information recorded on the quipus studied to date by researchers consists of numbers in a decimal system, such as "Indian chiefs ascertain[ing] which province had lost more than another and balanc[ing] the losses between them" after the Spanish invasion. In the early years of the Spanish conquest of Peru , Spanish officials often relied on

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3744-524: The local community. It is unclear how many intact quipu still exist and where, as many have been stored away in mausoleums. Various cultures have used knotted strings unrelated to South American quipu to record information — these include Chinese knotting , and practice by Tibetans , Japanese , and Polynesians . Quipu is the Spanish spelling, and the most common spelling in English. Khipu (pronounced [ˈkʰɪpʊ] , plural: khipukuna )

3816-610: The moral and political authority of the past.' These examples are indicative of how the quipu system was not only fundamental mathematically and linguistically for the original Inca, but also for cultural preservation of the original empire's descendants. Anthropologists and archaeologists carrying out research in Peru have highlighted two known cases where quipus have continued to be used by contemporary communities, albeit as ritual items seen as "communal patrimony" rather than as devices for recording information. The khipu system, being

3888-540: The name of the quipu keeper who made it, or its subject matter, or even a time designator. Beynon-Davies considers quipus as a sign system and develops an interpretation of their physical structure in terms of the concept of a data system . Khipu kamayuqkuna (knot makers/keepers, i.e., the former Inca record keepers) supplied colonial administrators with a variety and quantity of information pertaining to censuses, tribute, ritual and calendrical organization, genealogies, and other such matters from Inca times. Performing

3960-472: The performer would then bring those details to life. In 2003, while checking the geometric signs that appear on drawings of Inca dresses from the First New Chronicle and Good Government , written by Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala in 1615, William Burns Glynn found a pattern that seems to decipher some words from quipus by matching knots to colors of strings. The August 12, 2005, edition of

4032-427: The quipus to settle disputes over local tribute payments or goods production. Quipucamayocs ( Quechua khipu kamayuq "khipu specialist", plural: khipu kamayuqkuna ) could be summoned to court, where their bookkeeping was recognised as valid documentation of past payments. Some of the knots, as well as other features, such as color, are thought to represent non-numeric information, which has not been deciphered. It

4104-480: The rebellion through quipus would have prevented the Spanish authorities from understanding the messages if they were intercepted, and the Collata quipus are non-numeric. With the help of local leaders, who described the quipu as "a language of animals", Hyland was able to translate the names of the two ayllus , or family lineages, who received and sent the quipu . The translation relied on phonetic references to

4176-510: The region became part of the Spanish Empire , quipu were mostly replaced by European writing and numeral systems, and most quipu were identified as idolatrous and destroyed, but some Spaniards promoted the adaptation of the quipu recording system to the needs of the colonial administration, and some priests advocated the use of quipu for ecclesiastical purposes. In several modern villages, quipu have continued to be important items for

4248-410: The risk of further damage. Quipus are also closely monitored for mold , as well as insects and their larvae . As with all textiles, these are major problems. Fumigation may not be recommended for fiber textiles displaying mold or insect infestations , although it is common practice for ridding paper of mold and insects. Conservators in the field of library science have the skills to handle

4320-1050: The significance of which was known to the magistrates ". Fading of color , natural or dyed, cannot be reversed, and may indicate further damage to the fibers. Colors can darken if damaged by dust or by certain dyes and mordants . Quipus have been found with adornments, such as animal shells , attached to the cords, and these non-textile materials may require additional preservation measures. Quipus are now preserved using techniques that will minimise their future degradation. Museums , archives and special collections have adopted preservation guidelines from textile practices. Environmental controls are used to monitor and control temperature , humidity and light exposure of storage areas. As with all textiles, cool, clean, dry and dark environments are most suitable. The heating, ventilating and air conditioning, or HVAC systems, of buildings that house quipu knot records are usually automatically regulated. Relative humidity should be 60% or lower, with low temperatures, as high temperatures can damage

4392-402: The story itself is unknown). Members of the ruling class were usually taught to read quipus in the Inca equivalent of a university, the yachay wasi (literally, "house of teaching"), in the third year of schooling, for the higher classes who would eventually become the bureaucracy. In 1532, the Spanish Empire 's conquest of the Andean region began, with several Spanish conquerors making note of

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4464-422: The system and its 'construction embed' modern 'cultural knowledge.' Ceremonies in which they are 'curated, even though they can no longer be read,' is even further support for the case of societal honor and significance associated with the quipu. Even today, 'the knotted cords must be present and displayed when village officers leave or begin service, and draping the cords over the incoming office holders instantiates

4536-612: The two lateral toes, and were about the size of a modern goat . The family diversified and prospered, with the two living tribes, the Camelini and Lamini , diverging in the late early Miocene , about 17 million years ago, but remained restricted to North America until about 6 million years ago, when Paracamelus crossed the Bering land bridge into Eurasia , giving rise to the modern camels, and about 3-2 million years ago, when Hemiauchenia emigrated into South America (as part of

4608-470: The useful method of social management it was for the Inca, is also a link to the Cuzco census, as it was one of the primary methods of population calculation. This also has allowed historians and anthropologists to understand both the census and the "decimal hierarchy" system the Inca used, and that they were actually 'initiated together,' due to the fact that they were 'conceptually so closely linked.' In 1994,

4680-425: The weight of the animal rests on these tough, leathery sole pads. The South American camelids have adapted to the steep and rocky terrain by adjusting the pads on their toes to maintain grip. The surface area of Camels foot pads can increase with increasing velocity in order to reduce pressure on the feet and larger members of the camelid species will usually have larger pad area, which helps to distribute weight across

4752-744: The wild Bactrian camel ( Camelus ferus ) is a distinct species or a subspecies ( C. bactrianus ferus ) is still debated. The divergence date is 0.7 million years ago, long before the start of domestication. Family Camelidae Lama guanicoe Lama glama Lama pacos Lama vicugna Bactrian camel Dromedary In October 2017 the United Nations declared 2024 to be the International Year of Camelids in order to show how camelids are important for food security, economics and culture for many pastoral communities. Gary Urton Gary Urton (born July 7, 1946)

4824-420: Was also used to keep track of the calendar. According to Guaman Poma, quipucamayocs could "read" the quipus with their eyes closed. Quipucamayocs were from a class of people, "males, fifty to sixty", and were not the only members of Inca society to use quipus. Inca historians used quipus when telling the Spanish about Tawantin Suyu history (whether they only recorded important numbers or actually contained

4896-419: Was asked "Are they [quipus] fragile?", he answered, "some of them are, and you can't touch them – they would break or turn into dust. Many are quite well preserved, and you can actually study them without doing them any harm. Of course, any time you touch an ancient fabric like that, you're doing some damage, but these strings are generally quite durable." Ruth Shady , a Peruvian archeologist , has discovered

4968-519: Was important to the villagers, being "the seat of traditional control over land use, and the centre of communication with the deified mountains who control weather". In 2004, the archaeologist Renata Peeters (of the UCL Institute of Archaeology in London) and the cultural anthropologist Frank Salomon (of the University of Wisconsin ) undertook a project to conserve both the quipus in Rapaz and

5040-536: Was stripped of his emeritus status by Harvard in June 2021. Urton received his B.A. from the University of New Mexico in 1969, and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1971 and 1979, respectively. He was a professor at Colgate University from 1978 to 2002. He is married to artist and anthropologist Julia Meyerson . Urton is a specialist in Andean archaeology, particularly

5112-606: Was stripped of his emeritus status, and was banned from engaging with the Harvard community. The allegations against Urton surfaced amidst reports of a general culture of sexual harassment and gender discrimination at Harvard's anthropology department. In June 2020, over fifty former students and faculty signed a letter complaining that under Urton's leadership, the department was an "old boys’ club" that fostered "an environment that tolerated gender-based harassment, [...] sexual misconduct, sexism, and misogyny." In 2015, while Urton

5184-472: Was the chair of the department, a Title IX gender discrimination lawsuit was brought against it by former professor Kimberly Theidon . The lawsuit primarily concerned multiple allegations of sexual harassment against Urton's colleague Theodore C. Bestor , but also included the accusation that Urton had protected Bestor and "intentionally sabotaged" Theidon's application for tenure because of her advocacy for students who experienced sexual harassment. In 2021,

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