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Who made and read khipus?

Asked 26 Oct 2026 by ·3 answers·0·0 following
Most likely: khipu making extended beyond the elite to commoners and local communitiesAhead on the evidence, not yet confirmed. It needs two reviews to be accepted.

Where it stands

Three answers have been proposed. Khipu making extended beyond the elite to commoners and local communities. leads, with evidence 2 for: partly supported by its tests. Two are still possible.

Why it matters

If khipus were made by commoners as well as state specialists, they were a more widespread literacy than the chronicles suggest, which changes what the corpus is a sample of⁠[1].

Answers 3

Evidence: 2 for
Most likely
Evidence: 1 against
Most likely
None of these.
Not tested enough to call either way
Evidence: none yet
Still possible

History

  1. Hyland et al.: village communities used khipu boards in ritual into the 1950s.For: Khipu making extended beyond the elite to commoners and local communities.
  2. Hyland et al. puts forward: khipus were made and read by a class of male bureaucratic specialists (khipukamayuq).
  3. Hyland et al. puts forward: khipu making extended beyond the elite to commoners and local communities.
  4. Hyland et al.: the hair cord of KH0631 shows a diet typical of low-ranking commoners.Against: Khipus were made and read by a class of male bureaucratic specialists (khipukamayuq).
  5. Hyland et al.: kH0631, an Inka-period khipu with a human-hair primary cord, was made by someone with a commoner's diet.For: Khipu making extended beyond the elite to commoners and local communities.
  6. Asked on this site
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