Fragment: Quipu Item Number: 3263/85 a-c from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Quipu, or string abacus (incomplete). Three cords, the smallest of them split in three. The largest cord (part a) is white and made of two twisted strands of cotton fibre. Left end splits into two smaller branches. Second largest cord (part b) is brown-grey, made of two twisted strands of cotton fibre and has a series of five knots in its centre. Knots are closely spaced. Right end splits into two smaller branches. The smallest cord is dark brown and split into three pieces (part c). All parts are made of two twisted strands of cotton fibre. Right end tied off. Left end pieces are a series of three knots. Knots are closely spaced.
Inca style. The dark brown and light brown-grey cords fragments are definitely from a quipu. The three knots on the small fragment of the dark brown cord (part c) denotes three units. The five knots on the light brown-grey cord (part b) denote five tens, hundreds or thousands etc., depending on which rank of knots it belongs to. The white cord (part a) was likely part of the heading cord from which the other cords were suspended.
Collected in Peru before the 1970s by Ina VanStan, a Professor of Textiles and Clothing at the Florida State College for Women (Florida State University) from the 1940s to c. 1966. VanStan later gifted her collection to the donor. A large amount of the donation was used for teaching at the University of Alberta while others were mainly small study fragments.