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 ...

The absence of modern-day calculators did not stop ancient cultures from performing extraordinary feats of mathematics. The ancient Greeks kept count with abaci, frames with rods or grooves for moving ...

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 ...

The Inca Empire in South America, one of the most powerful pre-Columbian societies, was known for many innovations — such as the architecture of Machu Picchu, an extensive road network, and a system ...

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 ...

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, ...

Traverso (who grew up in Peru) and Nan thought that the Incan technology of quipu could guide the design of a simpler diagnostic. Quipu devices, which consist of colored cords knotted in different ...

SAN ANDRéS DE TUPICOCHA starts every year by swearing in new leaders, like many small towns in Peru. Instead of giving the office-holders a sash or medal it gives them a quipu, a coloured skein of ...