Scientists decode a mysterious form of "writing" from ancient Inca Empire

[C C]

I'm tempted to venture that quipus might be the weirdest information storage devices in history. But other societies used knotted string systems, too, and such global frequency probably hints that there is surely something more unique and truly eccentric running for the title champion.

Literary uses: "Some have argued that far more than numeric information is present and that quipus are a writing system."

Hopefully, the below interpretation is neutral in terms of cognitive bias, and not more political guilt and presentism projecting contemporary climate and environmental concerns upon the Rousseauean "noble and wise cultures" of the past that were victims of Western colonial oppression.

Scientists Are Decoding a Mysterious Form of Writing From the Ancient Inca Empire—Here’s What It Reveals
https://thedebrief.org/scientists-a...he-ancient-inca-empire-heres-what-it-reveals/

EXCERPTS: These knotted-string devices served a range of functions, including communication and record keeping, although their full purpose has long remained mysterious. [...] Based on Hyland’s research, the quipus appear to preserve details about changes in the ancient Peruvian environment. Notably, the collection she was granted access to is the first set of quipus confirmed as being used for studying the climate of the ancient world... (MORE - details)
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[Wizard of Whatever]

I have always like the quipus mystery, since I read a fictional story in which they helped lead to a hidden Incan treasure.

 

[Luchito]

According to Erland Nordenskkiold the quipus he studied show that the aborigines of that land calculated the orbit of Venus, the months and weeks of earth and other similar calculations. The study is based on the color of the strings and the number of knots. All of this is well described in his book The Secret of the Peruvian Quipus.

Of course, similar "instruments" were used by peoples of other cultures or regions for counting purposes like production of goods. But the studied quipus reveal an astronomical use. To the author of the book it was fascinating to find that the Incas took the number seven as kind of important, more than the rest of numbers.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.39000008878998&seq=23