Short Wave A Lock of Hair Could Rewrite Knowledge Of The Inca Empire
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Aug 27, 2025 
Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR science correspondent, dives deep into the intriguing world of the Inca Empire and its sophisticated quipu record-keeping system. She reveals how a recent discovery of a 500-year-old hair cord might challenge the notion that only the elite could create quipus, suggesting broader societal literacy. Nell discusses the implications of these finds on our understanding of Inca culture, including links to diet and social status, highlighting a more inclusive narrative of this remarkable civilization.
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Quipu Was A Sophisticated Record System
- The Inca used quipu: knotted cords encoding numbers, colors, knot types, and positions as records.
- This system functioned as a complex, non-written form of literacy across the empire.
Survival Bias Limits Our Knowledge
- Only ~1,000 quipus survive because cotton degrades and many were destroyed by Spanish colonizers.
- Limited surviving samples and unknown provenances make universal readings difficult.
Discovery Of A Human-Hair Primary Cord
- Researchers at St. Andrews found a three-foot primary cord made of long, glossy human hair.
- The hair looked like a hank doubled and twisted, suggesting somebody cut and tied their own hair to the quipu.