For years, historians believed that only trained Inca specialists were responsible for handling the records of emperors.

Those records weren’t kept on paper. They were made with cords and knots called khipus (also spelled quipus). New research, however, now suggests that ordinary people may have used this system as well, and the key clue is a 500-year-old khipu whose main cord is made from human hair.

This research was conducted by Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of St. Andrews, Sabine Hyland.

Khipus worked a bit like a coded notebook. A thick primary cord held many hanging strings. The number, type, and position of knots on those strings encoded the information that needed to be remembered.

Past studies have shown that khipus tracked things like taxes, labor, and storehouse goods. The Inca didn’t use a written alphabet, so khipus were central to running the largest empire in the Americas before European colonization.

An unusual artifact surfaced at an auction in Germany and later entered a Scottish collection. Scientists conducted radiocarbon dating, which put it to about 1498 CE, near the height of Inca power. It was this khipu, which has been dubbed KH0631, that tipped the researchers off that these items weren’t always made as they had thought.

Unlike most khipus, whose primary cords are usually made from animal fiber such as llama or alpaca hair, this one is braided human hair with knotted “pendant” strings attached. That alone makes it rare.

Researchers examined the hair to learn about the person it came from. Stable-isotope tests of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur can hint at a person’s diet and where they lived.

The results suggested the hair’s owner probably lived in the highlands and ate mostly tubers and greens, with little food from the sea. That profile fits a lower-status life, not an elite one with more meat and maize.

If a commoner’s hair formed the core of this khipu, it raises the possibility that record-keeping wasn’t limited to the top officials after all.

The hair cord is also long, roughly three and a half feet, which could represent more than eight years of growth, so it was quite an investment of time and energy.

In Inca culture, hair was thought to carry a person’s essence. Using one’s own hair in a khipu might have served as a kind of signature or personal mark, underscoring that this tool belonged to (and was used by) a specific individual rather than just state scribes.

Why does this matter? It widens the picture of who was “literate” in the Inca world.

If more people knew how to read and make khipus, communities may have kept their own accounts of trades, promises, or local events instead of relying only on imperial specialists. That view challenges old stories based mostly on Spanish colonial reports, which often overlooked Indigenous knowledge systems.

Still, scientists warn against big conclusions from a single object. One khipu can’t represent the entire empire.

But this find shows how much can be learned by re-examining museum pieces with modern tools. Hundreds of khipus sit in collections around the world.

Applying careful dating and chemical testing to more examples could reveal who made them, what they recorded, and how information flowed across Inca society.

In short, a humble lock of braided hair may reshape how we think about Inca “writing.”

Instead of a system controlled only by elites, khipu knowledge might have been more widespread, practical, and personal.

A living record kept by many hands, not just a few!

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about a second giant hole has opened up on the sun’s surface. Here’s what it means.