#datocurioso

¿Sabían que el Imperio Inca, conocido de forma oficial como el Tawantinsuyu, logró administrar un territorio de más de 2000000 de kilómetros cuadrados sin utilizar un sistema de escritura alfabética ni poseer monedas comerciales?

La estructura estatal andina basó toda su contabilidad, censos poblacionales y registros históricos en el uso del quipu, un mecanismo de cuerdas de algodón o lana de camélidos con nudos de diferentes formas, tamaños y colores. El personal especializado en su interpretación, denominado quipucamayoc, codificaba mediante un sistema posicional de base 10 tanto las cantidades de alimentos guardadas en los depósitos reales como las crónicas de los gobernantes. En el plano económico, el comercio monetario se reemplazó por completo mediante la mita, un tributo obligatorio de mano de obra que los ciudadanos entregaban al Estado para la construcción de caminos, puentes y fortalezas a cambio de vestimenta, seguridad y comida. Esta organización del trabajo permitió edificar una red vial de 40000 kilómetros de extensión llamada Qhapaq Ñan, la cual comunicaba los actuales territorios de Colombia, Ecuador, Perú, Bolivia, Chile y Argentina sin el auxilio de herramientas de hierro ni animales de tiro.

— A. Eldritch, Periodista, Locutor, podcaster y bloger del fediverso

Alt text via @altbot y @TeLoDescribot

#ImperioInca #Historia #Quipu #Andes #Arqueología

Peculiar velocities at low Galactic latitude

The Laniakea Supercluster is the closest large scale structure of galaxies. Is such a structure expected in the standard cold dark matter model of cosmology? This would be a relatively simple question to answer, were it not for the fact that the Zone of Avoidance (ZOA) runs right through it. Recent improvements to this paucity of data in the innermost ZOA can be made from systematic 21 cm surveys using the MeerKAT telescope (e.g. Kraan-Korteweg et al. 2024), and implementing these HI-redshifts as an extension to the CosmicFlows4 database for reconstruction (Hollinger et al. 2026). In this paper we test the assumption that for the purpose of reconstruction, additional HI detected galaxies without peculiar velocity determinations could be placed at their Hubble distances. We present infrared photometry of 163 of these in HI detected MeerKAT ZOA galaxies, in addition to 2MASS Extended Sources in the ZOA to determine their peculiar velocities. Averaging these peculiar velocities into redshift bins, we find that peculiar velocity corrections in the Laniakea Supercluster ZoA region are not prohibitively large, and that one can proceed with its reconstruction using the copious redshift data now available.

arXiv.org
Huh. Maybe the data structure underlying my next project should be #quipu. A 600 year track record that's open to hand implementation, literally, might be considered a solid enough basis, yes? https://indiandefencereview.com/thought-was-just-knots-scientists-say-inca-invented-worlds-first-computer-system/
Scientists Say the Inca May Have Invented the World’s First Computer System 600 Years Ago

Before silicon, before writing, the Inca were computing. Scientists just proved their 600-year-old knotted cords can run spreadsheets, encryption, and file systems.

Indian Defence Review
Landscape khipu: A theory that thousands of holes dug into a hill in Peru are a sort of storage and accounting system similar to the knot tying accounting technology
https://newatlas.com/environment/5-200-holes-peruvian-mountain/
#via:hackernews #archaeology #khipu #quipu #peru #+
5,200 holes carved into a Peruvian mountain left by an ancient economy

For nearly a century, a strange band of thousands of holes carved into a Peruvian hillside has defied explanation. Stretching for nearly a mile (1.5 km) along the edge of the Pisco Valley, Monte Sierpe – "serpent mountain" appears to be a deliberate, repetitive and almost mathematical feature – but…

New Atlas
Structures cosmiques : une famille de géantes

Comment Quipu, structure parmi les plus grandes, a-t-elle été identifiée ? De quoi sont composés les filaments de galaxies et de matière noire qui forment les structures de l'univers ? En quoi leur identification permet-elle de préciser notre compréhension de la cosmologie ?

France Culture
#Quipu (/ˈkiːpuː/ KEE-poo), also spelled khipu (Ayacucho Quechua: kipu, [ˈkipu]; Cusco Quechua: khipu, [kʰipu]), are record keeping devices fashioned from knotted cords. They were historically used by various cultures in the central Andes of South

Human hair khipus reveal Inca record-keeping was used by both elites and commoners
 
A recently studied 500-year-old Inca khipu (Quipu) has overturned assumptions about who created these intricate thread-based documents. The study, published in Science Advances, suggests that khipus—formerly thought to be the domain of high-level imperial officials—were also made by non-elite members of society...

More info: https://archaeologymag.com/2025/08/human-hair-khipus-used-by-elites-and-commoners/

Follow @archaeology

#archaeology #khipu #Quipu #incaempire

« On n’a jamais vu quelque chose d’aussi gigantesque » : Quipu, la structure de 1,3 milliard d’années-lumière, devient l’objet le plus vaste de l’Univers - Enviro2B

EN BREF 🌌 Quipu est la plus grande superstructure cosmique jamais découverte, avec une taille dépassant 1,3 milliard d’années-lumière. Elle contient environ 200 quadrillions de masses solaires, influençant significativement l’évolution des galaxies. Les superstructures comme Quipu perturbent les observations cosmologiques en modifiant le fond diffus cosmologique et les mesures de la constante de Hubble. Les

Enviro2B

I had the pleasure to be interviewed by Alexandre Morales for France Culture, to talk about the discovery of Quipu, one of the largest known structure of the Universe. It will air tomorrow morning at 6:52.

Here is the press release by the authors of the discovery at MPI Garching https://www.mpg.de/24197951/largest-superstructure-in-the-nearby-universe

#Quipu #QuipuSupercluster #Cosmology #Cosmography #galaxies #galaxyclusters #XrayClusters #ROSAT #CLASSIX #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrodon #science #STEM #news #AlexandreMorales #FranceCulture

Largest superstructure in the nearby universe discovered

Scientists have identified a colossal superstructure of dark matter, marking a significant advancement in cosmological research

Größte Superstruktur im Universum entdeckt. Ansammlung von Galaxienclustern im nahen Kosmos ist rund 1,4 Milliarden Lichtjahre lang. #Quipu #Astronomie #Superstruktur #Kosmos #Galaxienhaufen #ROSAT
https://www.scinexx.de/news/kosmos/groesste-superstruktur-im-universum-entdeckt/
Größte Superstruktur im Universum entdeckt

Kosmischer Riese: Astronomen haben die bislang größte Superstruktur im Kosmos entdeckt – ein gigantisches Filament aus Galaxienclustern und Dunkler

scinexx | Das Wissensmagazin