The Yupana was an ancient Inka counting board. The oldest surviving ones date back to 200–600 AD. The artefact in the photo was made between 1400 and 1532 AD. Little is known about how they worked. An Inka counting board, used alongside the khipu for arithmetic — the yupana computed, while the khipu recorded the result. Based on a 17th-century drawing by the chronicler Huaman Poma, later interpreted by Erland Nordenskiöld and Henry Wassén as a grid in which pebbles or grains of maize, placed in […]
The Yupana was an ancient Inka counting board. The oldest surviving ones date back to 200–600 AD. The artefact in the photo was made between 1400 and 1532 AD. Little is known about how they worked.
An Inka counting board, used alongside the khipu for arithmetic — the yupana computed, while the khipu recorded the result. Based on a 17th-century drawing by the chronicler Huaman Poma, later interpreted by Erland Nordenskiöld and Henry Wassén as a grid in which pebbles or grains of maize, placed in different squares, represented different values depending on their position.
Sources:
Quote from datartefact (2026) Herbert Bruderer (2024) Technical Marvels, Part 3: The Yupana. How did the Incas calculate with their mysterious abacus, the Yupana? Image credit: Archivo Digital de Arte Peruano (ARCHI).
Added by: Anne-Laure Fréant & Pierre Dragicevic.
Category:
Uncertain
Tags:
Inka, counting board, arithmetic, Peru