Caral: Ancient Peru city reveals 5,000-year-old “writing” — The Oldest Quipu

Caral's ancient script,
Writing from five thousand years,
Oldest quipu found.

Caral: Ancient Peru city reveals 5,000-year-old “writing”

July 19, 2005 — Source: SABC News

Archeologists in Peru have found a “quipu” on the site of the oldest city in the Americas, indicating that this sophisticated system of knots and strings was in use thousands of years earlier than previously believed.

The oldest known quipus, often associated with the Incas — whose vast South American empire was conquered by the Spanish in the 16th century — dated from about 650 AD. But archeologist Ruth Shady, leading the investigations at the coastal city of Caral, discovered quipus among artifacts dating back some 5,000 years.

“This is the oldest quipu,” Shady said. “It shows that this society had a system of ‘writing’ that would continue down the ages until the Inca Empire — lasting some 4,500 years.”

The well-preserved cotton strings, wound around thin sticks, were found alongside offerings such as fiber balls wrapped in nets and pristine reed baskets, likely ceremonial artifacts.

Pyramid-shaped buildings at Caral were being constructed around the same time as Egypt’s Saqqara pyramid — demonstrating that organized civilization had independently emerged in Peru alongside other early centers in Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and China.