Up until the time of the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, Inca communities in the Andean highlands used a peculiar form ...

For hundreds of years, Andean people recorded information by tying knots into long cords. Will we ever be able to read them?

Researchers studying an ancient form of string-writing used in pre-Columbian South America have unraveled new clues to a ...

like a rosary -- that was used by the ancient conquerors to record census, tribute, genealogies and calendrical information. Because the Inca didn't employ a recognizable system of writing ...

[Gallery: Tracing the Ancient Incan Empire ... city in the place of Cuzco. While the Inca did not develop what we would consider a formal system of writing, they did use recording devices ...

But other scholars disagreed, contending that “it’s simply impossible to have a civilization like the Incas that didn’t have some form of what we would call writing ... from ancient times. They are ...

While ancient cities in other empires had dramatic ... A state official would record each tax using the Inca's unique writing system, known as khipu, which consisted of tying very precise knots ...