Long before Spanish colonization, the indigenous people of Peru kept track of important dates and numbers, and perhaps even stories, using a mysterious coding system of strings and knots called a ...

To the casual observer, they appear to be little more than multicolored tangles of arm-length strings. But a growing number of experts think "quipus" may hold the secrets of the Inca Empire. The Incas ...

LIMA, Peru — To the casual observer, they appear to be little more than multicolored tangles of arm-length strings. But a growing number of experts believe that “quipus” may hold the secrets of the ...

An Inca quipu (khipu) used for storing data with a system of knots. 15th century CE. Larco Museum, Lima. Credit: Claus Ableiter (CC BY-SA) An Inca quipu (khipu) used for storing data with a system of ...

Long before computers existed, the Inca people collected data and kept records using knotted strings known as quipu. That technology has inspired a new system for assessing gastrointestinal problems, ...