The Inca civilization was a marvel for a myriad of reasons: their highly advanced architecture, engineering, and farming techniques, the domestication and expert breeding of guinea pigs (cuyes), their numerical system, and their religion. However, probably their most astounding achievement was that they did all of these without a written language.
To us, the idea of a civilization without written words is inconceivable. We rely so much on written language (traffic signs, manuals, accounting, letters, documents, maps, recipes, text books, etc.) that our civilization would literally be inoperable without it. It's amazing to me how such an advanced society could exist without a written language. The Incas had a formal polytheistic religion (Tahuantinsuyu), complex tapestries woven from alpaca wool that served to seal political contracts, musical instruments, and they even performed successful skull surgery... all without a written language.
How did their civilization pass down knowledge from one generation to the next?
The Inca society had special "rememberers" whose specific function was to know and remember certain things about their civilization, and then pass that knowledge on. Probably my favorite example of a "rememberer" is that of the quipucamayoc.
The quipucamayoc were the Incan accountants whose function was to remember how to use the quipu (pictured at the top). The quipu was an instrument used to store huge amounts of information about many aspects of their society. They were like ancient computers-- not only used for storing data, but also used for mathmatical calculation. Everything about the quipu meant something different: the lengths of the cords, the colors, the spacing, the types of knots... everything stood for a different detail or fact. Even though the true interpretation of the quipu died with the quipucamayoc, many people have hazarded a guess at what different patterns could mean.
The spoken language of the Incas is called Quechua. It's interesting what we can learn from their language. They seemed to be peaceful and to dislike warfare: the word for "soldier" is also the same word for "enemy". Agriculture seems to be very important, because there is only one word for "work" or "cultivate".
Here are some other fun words I found:
"Canca"- Sacred bread
"Pucara"- Fortress
"Pucara"- Fortress
"Sinchi"- Chief, leader
"Yacarca"- Soothsayer, diviner
"Chasqui"- Relay runner
Even though the interpretation of the quipu has been lost, the language of the Inca survived the expanse of centuries and is still spoken by millions of people today. Recent census reports show that two and one-half million people still speak Quechua, and two thirds of these speak no other language.
It's interesting to me how the language survived intact, but the true interpretation of the quipu was forgotten and lost. What made the Incas decide it wasn't important enough to be remembered? Was it the influence of the incoming Europeans and their knowledge of written language? Was it destroyed along with their society as the Spanish invaded?
Why do we forget or leave behind different aspects of knowledge in our society and in our individual lives? What do we see as necessary to pass down to the next generation?
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That's a really interesting idea - to think about what we're missing in our society, what pieces of knowledge that people forgot about or decided were no longer useful. I wonder if what our professors mentioned at the beginning of class is true, that the very act of NOT writing things down enabled us to practice memorizing things and, instead of forgetting the important things, really keeping them with us. It's interesting to think that a really honored position in society would be the person who ensures that the society is not forgotten, and that future generations get the benefits of ancient customs and helpful practices.
ReplyDeleteWhat a rich post in historical background! The thought of having no written language intrigued me, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that if the Inca had no written language, then they would have to say everything in person. It would have to pass from one mouth to another. I then immediately thought of the game Telephone, where one person starts with a phrase and each person repeats the phrase to the person next to them. By the end, the phrase is all jumbled, hardly resembling the phrase from the beginning. I guess this is how parts of language or knowledge are lost, especially those with a verbal language. With each new generation, there are alterations which are shaped around that society at that specific time. This is exactly why it's so intriguing that the Incan language has remained intact all these years. I am sure Quechua spoken today is different from Quechua spoken in the 15th century, but the fact that the language continues to be spoken is miraculous.
ReplyDeleteThe idea that of course changes would come about, like the idea of "telephone" makes me wonder if maybe the myths of the Incan culture, or even the story of the beginning of the world, have been changed dramatically up to now, just subtly over time but accumulating in a much different story than the one that began. Especially as we're focusing on mnemonics this unit, I wonder how the "remembers" handled that huge responsibility and what they did to remember these things. I think it would be easiest just to talk to a LOT of people to practice the stories, and share that knowledge.
ReplyDeleteThis post reminds me of the book Fareinheit 451, which takes place in a future society where books have been banned. At the end of the book, the main character finds a group of people that have taken it upon themselves to memorize great works of literature that have long been banned from print and were destroyed by the government. The book speaks to the fact that knowledge will be preserved and passed down no matter what obstacles it faces, for example: the Europeans conquering the Incas, but their language was preserved thanks to people dedicated to doing so. I think knowledge depends on the will of people to preserve and pass it on, and although the mediums and methods by which we obtain knowledge may change, the preservation of knowledge thanks to people will not.
ReplyDeleteInteresting point Dane about the willingness of people to preserve knowledge. It makes me ponder about the world today and how not a lot of emphasis is put on using memorization as a way of preserving culture. We have easily manipulated means of preserving knowledge including computers, calculators, and history textbooks that all help keep our culture intact. Interesting how technology has caused people to memorize as much info since it is so easily accessed.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I meant how technology has caused people NOT to memorize as much info since it can be so easily accessed. Don't do blog posts late at night:)
ReplyDeleteTesting, testing. 1,2,3...
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