Page 81 - J. C. Turner - History and Science of Knots

PART II. NON-EUROPEAN TRADITIONS

This Part contains three chapters, each dealing with the his-
tory of knots as used by a particular non-European civiliza-
tion.

The first chapter describes the knotted cords, or quipus, of
the Incas of South America. The Inca culture existed from
about A.D. 1400 to A.D. 1560, in a region that is now Peru and
parts of Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. The quipus
were used to store data-to keep detailed accounts of the
various activities involved in governing the kingdom. How
the knotted cords were constructed, and used to represent
and store numbers, is explained by the author.
The second chapter traces the exceptionally rich history of
knots in China, beginning with the first hints of their exis-
tence in the late paleolithic period, some eighteen thousand
years ago. The main theme is to describe how knots have
been put to decorative use in ancient China.
Inuits are Eskimos of Greenland or North America. The
third chapter describes something of their history, from 4500
B.P. to the present day. It examines a wide variety of evidence
of their ability to manufacture ropes and to form and use
knots. The evidence is drawn from two major sources, ethno-
graphical observations in the literature, and archaeological
records or museum examples of knotted artifacts found at
many different excavation sites.