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he earliest form of a writing system found in the Incan Empire of South America prior to colonialism was the Quipu. Although writing system may not be fitting, it served as some sort of a "transmittal system." The quipu is colored strings made of wool and cotton which are joined in many different ways and knotted in order to communicate. Several South American societies were capable of reading it. Upon the arrival of the Spanish in 1531, the conquistadors were suspicious of the quipu and burned most of them. To this day, only 300 quipu's remain. As to what the Incans were communicating with each other about, archaeologists remain uncertain. They do know however that they were used for administrative purposes such as tracking tributes. They might also have been used as maps or legends to be told orally in the future. Little is still known about this fascinating system of communication.

The quipu was a system of cords, some colored, some without color, some knotted, some without knots. It was a sophisticated way of keeping track of political, astronomical, and especially numerical data. We still don't know their exact function; it has been proposed that they served as mnemonic devices, but it's also quite possible that they were far more sophisticated, holding information in every strand, color, and knot. I just can't help but ask the question: How did they see the world in comparison to those of us who have written language? Instead of words, did they see in strands? In colors (not literally)? In knots? Perhaps all of this is a bit of stretch, but our language and system of writing certainly play an important role in how we see the world.