Resumen

This study explores the functions of tukapu as possibly important elements that are directly involved in the khipu construction process, i.e., when used by khipukamayuqs as a useful rudimentary outline for organising ideas, points, and details when constructing their forthcoming khipu. My re-study of the khipu sample UR19, which was previously investigated by Urton (2003) for other purposes, involved using the additional pieces of information that were identified in the graphical representations of the organisation of three different knot types that were tied into pendant and subsidiary strings. Proceeding one step further, we can sketch out a structure for the various meanings that are contained in these devices, which takes us much closer to developing an approach that could help us attempt to decipher the khipu. The irrational number π (first used by Archimedes and Liu Hui in the third century B.C.), the diameter of the Moon, and its distance from Earth (first measured by Aristarchus in the third century B.C.) could account for the observed results.