quipu, khipu

Khipu are complex compositions of information whose meaning still remains to be interpreted by researchers.
The knots of a khipu can be simple, double, triple knotted or more, knotted to the right or left, and made from threads spun to the right or left. The Incan specialists who made and could read a khipu were known as quipucamayos – a profession that required extensive training in memorisation. Khipu are sometimes described as three-dimensional documents. According to colonial accounts, quipucamayos analysed a khipu both by visual inspection and by touching it as if it were a sort of Braille text. In the dyed, spun threads of khipu one could also distinguish the dualistic Andean understanding that informed much of their existence. Both feminine and masculine aspects could be found in khipu, based on the material they were made of. Cotton is feminine, associated with the earth and the lowlands, whereas wool from the highlands has masculine properties.