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Science 13 June 2003:
Vol. 300. no. 5626, pp. 1650 - 1651
DOI: 10.1126/science.300.5626.1650
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ANTHROPOLOGY:
Cracking the Khipu Code

Charles C. Mann

Researchers are taking a fresh look at the cryptic Incan knotted strings known as khipu, which were long viewed simply as mnemonic devices or textile abacuses. Some are now suggesting that these complex textiles may have been a written language that used a binary code to store information. If so, this ancient three-dimensional writing system was unlike any other on Earth.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)