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Because of the comprehensiveness and flexibility of the KDB,
we have been able for the first time to ask questions about aspects of
the khipu corpus as a whole. To date, our queries have focused on three
areas: searching for numerical similarities between khipus, statistical
analysis of khipu characteristics, and searching for correlations between
khipu variables.
We began querying the KDB by asking “Are there khipus in which
the sequence of cord total values match?” We were able to discover
several previously unknown matches, that is, pairs of khipu in which portions
of the sequence of total cord values are the same. In analyzing these
exact matches, it became clear that there were larger portions of each
khipu that were very similar though not exactly equal. This led us to
investigate non-exact matches. For instance, using the database, we can
ask questions such as “Show all khipu with cord total sequences
in which a value on the first khipu is within 1 of the value on the second
khipu.” (This would find, for example, a correspondence between
10–16–4–5–5 and 9–17–3–6–6.)
Or, “Show all khipu with numeric sequences in which a number on
the first khipu is within 10% of a number on the second.” Using
this approach, we were able to find several other khipu with significant
similarities. It should be emphasized that these searches will find matching
cord value sequences in any position on any khipu; that is, a sequence
near the beginning of one khipu may appear in the middle of another. Reversed
sequences can also be found. We have also examined proportions between
succeeding numbers in a sequence, and expect that as more khipu are entered,
many more such matches will appear.
The database allows us easily to group together similar elements of all
khipu and determine overall distribution of khipu characteristics. For
instance, we can ask “What is the most frequently occurring total
cord value?” For the entire body of khipu data, it turns out so
far that 1 is overwhelmingly the most frequently occurring value. The
next most frequently occurring numbers, in order, are 2, 3, 4, 10, and
5. Interestingly, this distribution may change when we look at khipu from
one particular area: in khipu from Pachacamac, for instance, the most
frequently occurring total cord values are 20, 5, 10, 1, and 50.
One portion of our color investigations to date has focused on color distribution
in cords with more than one hue. We asked “Which colors can occur
together in barber-pole cords?” As with the question about number
frequency, the answer depends on the provenance of khipus included. Overall,
31 colors appear in barber-pole cords, with white, light brown, and light
yellowish brown being found most frequently. Most other colors appear
combined with one of these. In Pachacamac, by contrast, only ten distinct
colors appear in barber pole cords, and of those, only one (dark grayish
blue) ever appears with a color other than white. Similar queries were
run for Ica and Leymebamba, and each region shows distinct differences
in the use of color in barber-pole and mottled cords. The differences
between regions allow us to better understand variations in khipus from
different areas, which may provide the foundation for defining khipu typologies
and classifications.
A very important question is whether there is a correlation between two
or several khipu construction variables. Because the Laguna de los Cóndores
collection has the most complete information thus far on attachment, cord
twist, and knot direction, we began our inquiries with those khipu. We
found that in general, long knots occur with approximately equal likelihood
on a recto- or verso- attached pendant. However, long knots (S or Z) with
a value of 5 show a marked difference between the percentage occurring
on recto- and the percentage occurring on verso- attached cords. This
may indicate a correlation between long knots of value 5 and pendant cord
attachment. To determine whether such a correlation is supportable, we
will compare these results to attachment data from other khipu when they
become available.
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