Khipu

A Khipu is an ancient Inca communication tool made of tangled cords, used to record and transmit information. Different cords, colors, and knot placements encoded data such as census details, tribute records, or historical events. The knots’ positions and their types conveyed numerical or categorical information, functioning much like a binary or coded system. Khipus were a sophisticated method for managing large amounts of data in a society without a written language, enabling administrators to keep records and communicate across the vast Inca Empire.