ABSTRACT

Despite ongoing efforts to document the use of khipus (Andean knotted-string recording devices) in the decades following the Spanish conquest, the scenes in which former Inka-era khipukamayuqs (cord keepers) rendered their cords for colonial observers remain unclear. This study confronts this historical blind spot, endeavouring to reconstruct early colonial khipu ‘readings’ by way of a heretofore unexplored occurrence: scribal modifications entered in transcriptions of khipu-based testimonies before the colonial high courts. Following an overview of evidentiary cord readings and previous treatments of scribal emendations, the prevalence of visible markings is assessed in the largest compilation of khipu transcriptions. Legal proceedings between 1558–1568 before the Audiencias of Lima and La Plata form two case studies. The documents are representative of other khipu transcriptions in lacking an exhaustive description of their own preparation; as such, the possibility that one or more is a secondary copy cannot be entirely excluded. Scribal modifications in three testimonies from the proceedings are deployed as heuristic devices to probe the presentation of ethnocategories and chronology by the cord keepers within this fraught documentary space. Despite the possibility of unattested documentary interference, the case studies attest to slippages in khipu reading that, in their sum, enable the proposal of punctuated narrative cadence, reversions to verbal shorthand, and relational discourse as recurring qualities of early colonial khipu readings. It is argued that this interpretive exercise enables closer study of the relationship between khipus and their written colonial references, serving other inquiries into ‘lost’ historical scenes.

摘要

尽管在西班牙征服后的几十年里一直在努力记录khipus（安第斯打结的绳索记录设备）的使用，但前印加时代khipukamayuqs 的场景（绳索管理员）使他们的殖民观察员绳索仍不清楚。本研究直面这一历史盲点，试图通过迄今为止尚未探索的事件重建早期殖民奇普的“解读”：在殖民高等法院对奇普证词的抄录中进行了抄写修改。在对证据绳索读数和以前的抄写修正处理进行概述之后，在最大的奇普抄录汇编中评估了可见标记的普遍性。1558 年至 1568 年间利马和拉普拉塔观众席的法律诉讼形成了两个案例研究。这些文件是其他奇普抄本的代表，缺乏对它们自己的准备的详尽描述；因此，不能完全排除一个或多个是次要副本的可能性。诉讼程序中三份证词中的抄写修改被部署为启发式装置，以在这个充满压力的纪录片空间中探索电线保管人对民族类别和年表的呈现。尽管可能存在未经证实的文献干扰，但案例研究证明了奇普阅读中的失误，总而言之，能够提出断断续续的叙事节奏、恢复到口头速记和关系话语作为早期殖民奇普阅读的反复出现的品质。有人认为，这种解释性练习有助于更深入地研究奇普及其书面殖民参考文献之间的关系，从而为对“失落”历史场景的其他调查提供服务。