What is the earliest known example of a quipu, an ancient Incan form of records keeping?

The earliest known example of a quipu, an ancient Incan form of records keeping, is a quipu discovered in the archaeological site of Chiripa in Bolivia. The quipu dates back to the 8th century AD and was discovered in 2002.

A quipu is a form of communication used by the Incas of South America before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. It was a system of accounting and record-keeping, used to keep track of goods, labor, and other statistics. Quipus were made of knotted strings of cotton or wool, tied together in various patterns and colors. The knots and colors represented numbers, words, and ideas, and the quipu was used as a system of writing and communication.

The quipu discovered in Chiripa consists of a cotton thread of approximately 2 meters in length, with a variety of knots and colors. The colors are white, red, yellow, and blue, and the knots are arranged in a pattern of vertical and horizontal lines. The knots represent numbers, and the colors represent different categories of information.

The Chiripa quipu is the earliest known example of a quipu, and is an important discovery for understanding the history and culture of the Incas. It has been studied by archaeologists and historians, and has shed light on the development of quipus and the Inca civilization.