Andean Innovations - Quipu Accounting, Terraced Agriculture, Inca Road and Chasqui-Runner System

Calendar Circle + Cultural Care Promise + quick review of lesson 7 vocabulary

• Lead routine standing
• Affirm continuity with prior lessons

Show MG-10 Quipu Diagram. Explain the quipu is an Inca knotted-cord record system used for accounting. Demonstrate the knot system on the tactile replica. Note that quipu interpretation remains an active scholarly field (Gary Urton, Manuel Medrano, Quechua scholars). Show Andean terraced agriculture photograph. Show the Inca road system from MG-9 - 24,000 miles of stone road across the Andes, traversed by chasqui-runners in a relay communication system.

• Notice: 'no paper-writing' does NOT mean 'no records.' Different cultures encode information in different ways.

  model A quipu encodes information in knots, cord color, and arrangement instead of in written characters. A trained reader could store and retrieve detailed accounting information. The system was carried by named quipucamayocs - quipu-keepers - across the Inca state.

  prompt How is a quipu different from a written record on paper?

• Why is the quipu a primary source? What is its OWN-VOICE check?

Children examine MG-10 Quipu Diagram and tactile quipu replica as artifacts. Apply the 6-question Artifact-Reading Card. Focus on Box 4 (MAKER) and Box 6 (OWN-VOICE - what do Quechua scholars and contemporary Andean cultural educators say?).

M-3-S-CUL-08-A Diagram

MG-10 18x24-inch laminated diagram of an Inca quipu with labels for main cord, pendant cords, knot types (single/long/figure-eight), and color-coding panel. The 'scholars today still work to read them' footer is critical - quipus are an active scholarly puzzle. Sourced from Museo Larco scholarly materials and reviewed against current Urton/Medrano scholarship.

MG-10 Diagram

Used in lesson 7-8 Andean deep-dive. The diagram is sourced from Museo Larco scholarly materials and reviewed against current quipu scholarship (Gary Urton and Manuel Medrano). The 'scholars today still work to read them' footer is CRITICAL - it teaches that quipus are a real working scholarly puzzle, not a 'lost mystery'.

M-3-S-CUL-08-B Photograph

8x10 contemporary photograph of an Andean terraced agriculture site (Moray near Cusco or contemporary working terraces in the Sacred Valley). Caption: 'Andean terraces, Sacred Valley, Peru, contemporary. Terraces let Andean farmers grow crops on steep mountainsides since at least Inca times; many terraces remain in active use today.' Sourced with permission from CTTC or Andean cultural office.

• Examine the tactile quipu replica. Identify three knot types and what they encode.

  scaffold Tactile examination + pair share
• On a personal sketch sheet, draw ONE Andean innovation (quipu, terrace, or chasqui-runner path) with a 1-sentence caption.

  scaffold Sentence frame: 'This is a/an ___. It was made/used to ___.'

• What is a quipu used for?
• Why are terraces a good adaptation for the high Andes?

• Restate: 'Different cultures encode information differently - the quipu is real record-keeping'
• Preview lesson 9's Mande/Mali deep-dive

• Discuss today's lesson with a caregiver and record 2 sentences.