Gary Urton's Books

Signs of the Inka Khipu

Binary Coding in the Andean Knotted-String Records

By: Gary Urton

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Signs of the Inka Khipu

Binary Coding in the Andean Knotted-String Records

By: Gary Urton

In an age when computers process immense amounts of information by the manipulation of sequences of 1s and 0s, it remains a frustrating mystery how prehistoric Inka recordkeepers encoded a tremendous variety and quantity of data using only knotted and dyed strings. Yet the comparison between computers and khipu may hold an important clue to deciphering the Inka records. In this book, Gary Urton sets forth a pathbreaking theory that the manipulation of fibers in the construction of khipu created physical features that constitute binary-coded sequences which store units of information in a system of binary recordkeeping that was used throughout the Inka empire. Urton begins his theory with the making of khipu, showing how at each step of the process binary, either/or choices were made. He then investigates the symbolic components of the binary coding system, the amount of information that could have been encoded, procedures that may have been used for reading the khipu, the nature of the khipu signs, and, finally, the nature of the khipu recording system itself--emphasizing relations of markedness and semantic coupling. This research constitutes a major step forward in building a unified theory of the khipu system of information storage and communication based on the sum total of construction features making up these extraordinary objects.

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Page Count

217

Publisher

University of Texas Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0292773757

ISBN 13

9780292773752

Inka History in Knots

Reading Khipus as Primary Sources

By: Gary Urton

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Inka History in Knots

Reading Khipus as Primary Sources

By: Gary Urton

Inka khipus--spun and plied cords that record information through intricate patterns of knots and colors--constitute the only available primary sources on the Inka empire not mediated by the hands, minds, and motives of the conquering Europeans. As such, they offer direct insight into the worldview of the Inka--a view that differs from European thought as much as khipus differ from alphabetic writing, which the Inka did not possess. Scholars have spent decades attempting to decipher the Inka khipus, and Gary Urton has become the world's leading authority on these artifacts. In Inka History in Knots, Urton marshals a lifetime of study to offer a grand overview of the types of quantative information recorded in khipus and to show how these records can be used as primary sources for an Inka history of the empire that focuses on statistics, demography, and the "longue durée" social processes that characterize a civilization continuously adapting to and exploiting its environment. Whether the Inka khipu keepers were registering census data, recording tribute, or performing many other administrative tasks, Urton asserts that they were key players in the organization and control of subject populations throughout the empire and that khipu record-keeping vitally contributed to the emergence of political complexity in the Andes. This new view of the importance of khipus promises to fundamentally reorient our understanding of the development of the Inka state and the possibilities for writing its history.

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Page Count

320

Publisher

University of Texas Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1477312641

ISBN 13

9781477312643

The Social Life of Numbers

A Quechua Ontology of Numbers and Philosophy of Arithmetic

By: Gary Urton,Primitivo Nina Llanos

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The Social Life of Numbers

A Quechua Ontology of Numbers and Philosophy of Arithmetic

By: Gary Urton,Primitivo Nina Llanos

Unraveling all the mysteries of the khipu--the knotted string device used by the Inka to record both statistical data and narrative accounts of myths, histories, and genealogies--will require an understanding of how number values and relations may have been used to encode information on social, familial, and political relationships and structures. This is the problem Gary Urton tackles in his pathfinding study of the origin, meaning, and significance of numbers and the philosophical principles underlying the practice of arithmetic among Quechua-speaking peoples of the Andes. Based on fieldwork in communities around Sucre, in south-central Bolivia, Urton argues that the origin and meaning of numbers were and are conceived of by Quechua-speaking peoples in ways similar to their ideas about, and formulations of, gender, age, and social relations. He also demonstrates that their practice of arithmetic is based on a well-articulated body of philosophical principles and values that reflects a continuous attempt to maintain balance, harmony, and equilibrium in the material, social, and moral spheres of community life.

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294

Publisher

University of Texas Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0292786840

ISBN 13

9780292786844

The Singing of the New World

Indigenous Voice in the Era of European Contact

By: Gary Tomlinson

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The Singing of the New World

Indigenous Voice in the Era of European Contact

By: Gary Tomlinson

A study of indigenous music-making in New World societies, including the Aztecs and the Incas.

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Page Count

194

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0521873916

ISBN 13

9780521873918

The Social Life of Numbers

A Quechua Ontology of Numbers and Philosophy of Arithmetic

By: Gary Urton,Primitivo Nina Llanos

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The Social Life of Numbers

A Quechua Ontology of Numbers and Philosophy of Arithmetic

By: Gary Urton,Primitivo Nina Llanos

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294

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University of Texas Press

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ISBN 10

0292786840

ISBN 13

9780292786844

Inca Myths

By: Gary Urton

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Inca Myths

By: Gary Urton

Inca Myths begins with an introduction to the land and people of the Andes and reviews the sources of our current knowledge of Inca mythology. Gary Urton then recounts various creation myths, including a selection from various ethnic groups and regions around the empire. Finally, he draws upon his extensive knowledge of the history and ethnography of the Incas to illuminate the nature and relationships of myth and history. The contents include: Introduction Creation myths Origin myths of the founding of the Inca empire Myths of the works and deeds of the Inca kings Selection of myths from around the empire Animal myths Myths from the Spanish Conquest Conclusions

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University of Texas Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0292785321

ISBN 13

9780292785328

The History of a Myth

Pacariqtambo and the Origin of the Inkas

By: Gary Urton

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The History of a Myth

Pacariqtambo and the Origin of the Inkas

By: Gary Urton

In the year 1572, the Spanish chronicler Sarmiento de Gamboa completed one of the earliest official versions of the history of the Inka empire. In his account, he stated that the ancestors of the Inkas originated from a cave at a place to the south of the imperial city of Cuzco called Pacariqtambo. The History of a Myth explores how and why this version of the origin myth (there were others) came to form the basis of an official history. Using a legal document from the 1560s, Urton reveals how the Pacariqtambo origin myth allowed remaining members of the Inka nobility to claim descent from the first Inkas and enjoy special status with their Spanish conquerors. This discovery offers new insight into the social and political factors that determine what becomes "the facts" of history. It also emphasizes the ambiguities inherent in history writing when the informants are the conquered subjects of the authors.

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Page Count

185

Publisher

University of Texas Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0292785658

ISBN 13

9780292785656

Losing Legitimacy

Street Crime And The Decline Of Social Institutions In America

By: Gary Lafree

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Losing Legitimacy

Street Crime And The Decline Of Social Institutions In America

By: Gary Lafree

In the past fifty years, street crime rates in America have increased eightfold. These increases were historically patterned, were often very rapid, and had a disproportionate impact on African Americans. Much of the crime explosion took place in a space of just ten years beginning in the early 1960s. Common explanations based on biological impulses, psychological drives, or slow-moving social indicators cannot explain the speed or timing of these changes or their disproportionate impact on racial minorities. Using unique data that span half a century, Gary LaFree argues that social institutions are the key to understanding the U.S. crime wave. Crime increased along with growing political distrust, economic stress, and family disintegration. These changes were especially pronounced for racial minorities. American society responded by investing more in criminal justice, education, and welfare institutions. Stabilization of traditional social institutions and the effects of new institutional spending account for the modest crime declines of the 1990s.

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Page Count

240

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

0429978766

ISBN 13

9780429978760

At the Crossroads of the Earth and the Sky

An Andean Cosmology

By: Gary Urton

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At the Crossroads of the Earth and the Sky

An Andean Cosmology

By: Gary Urton

Above Misminay, the sky also is so divided by the alternation of the two axes of the Milky Way passing through the zenith. This mirror-image quadri-partition of terrestrial and celestial spheres is such that a point within one of the quarters of the earth is related to a point within the corresponding celestial quarter. The transition between the earth and the sky occurs at the horizon, where sacred mountains are related to topographic and celestial features. Based on fieldwork in Misminay, Peru, Gary Urton details a cosmology in which the Milky Way is central. This is the first study that provides a description and analysis of the astronomical and cosmological system in a contemporary community in the Americas. Separate chapters take up the sun, the moon, meteorological phenomena, the stars, and the planets. Star-to-star constellations, the "animal" dark-cloud constellations that cut through the Milky Way, and certain twilight- and midnight-zenith stars are analyzed in terms of their spatial and temporal integration within an indigenous cosmological framework. Urton breaks new ground by demonstrating the indigenous merging of such forms of "precise knowledge" as astronomy, meteorology, agriculture, and the correlation of astronomical and biological cycles within a single calendar system. More than sixty diagrams clarify this Quechua system of astronomy and relate it to more familiar principles of Western astronomy and cosmology.

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247

Publisher

University of Texas Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0292790511

ISBN 13

9780292790513

Signs of the Inka Khipu

Binary Coding in the Andean Knotted-String Records

By: Gary Urton

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Signs of the Inka Khipu

Binary Coding in the Andean Knotted-String Records

By: Gary Urton

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217

Publisher

University of Texas Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0292773757

ISBN 13

9780292773752

Microsoft Access 2000

Complete Concepts and Techniques

By: Gary B. Shelly,Thomas J. Cashman,Philip J. Pratt

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Microsoft Access 2000

Complete Concepts and Techniques

By: Gary B. Shelly,Thomas J. Cashman,Philip J. Pratt

Part of the successful Shelly Cashman Series, this text offers a clear screen-by-screen, step-by-step approach to learning Microsoft Access 2000.

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420

Published Date

ISBN 10

078954671X

ISBN 13

9780789546715

Inka History in Knots

Reading Khipus as Primary Sources

By: Gary Urton

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Inka History in Knots

Reading Khipus as Primary Sources

By: Gary Urton

The world's leading authority on Inka khipus presents a comprehensive overview of the types of information recorded in these knotted strings, demonstrating how they can serve as primary documents for a history of the Inka empire.

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320

Publisher

University of Texas Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1477311998

ISBN 13

9781477311998

The History of a Myth

Pacariqtambo and the Origin of the Inkas

By: Gary Urton

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The History of a Myth

Pacariqtambo and the Origin of the Inkas

By: Gary Urton

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185

Publisher

University of Texas Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0292785658

ISBN 13

9780292785656

Gary Blackman

Survey

By: Gary Blackman,Justin Paton,Athol McCredie,Michael Findlay

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Gary Blackman

Survey

By: Gary Blackman,Justin Paton,Athol McCredie,Michael Findlay

This publication brings together for the first time a selection of photographs fron the fifty-year career of Dunedin photographer Gary Blackman. Photographing almost entirely in his spare time, Blackman has built a patient and perceptive record of well-known people and places, and treated less familiar subjects with a respect that establishes their importance in the record too.

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ISBN 10

0908910347

ISBN 13

9780908910342

Gary Larson

By: Gary Larson

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Gary Larson

By: Gary Larson

Poétique, décalé, cruel, insensé, cérébral, riche, idiot, génial... Bienvenue dans l'univers extravagant de Gary Larson !

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Dupuis SA

Published Date

ISBN 10

2800131365

ISBN 13

9782800131368

Gary Hume

By: Gary Hume,Brenda McParland

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Gary Hume

By: Gary Hume,Brenda McParland

This title Accompanies the exhibition 'Gary Hume' at the Irish Museum Of Modern Art, the first solo exhibition in Ireland of works by Gary Hume, a comprehensive overview of the artist's oeuvre over the past ten years.

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ISBN 10

1903811163

ISBN 13

9781903811160

Book's by Gary Urton

Signs of the Inka Khipu

Signs of the Inka Khipu

Inka History in Knots

Inka History in Knots

The Social Life of Numbers

The Social Life of Numbers

The Singing of the New World

The Singing of the New World

The Social Life of Numbers

The Social Life of Numbers

Inca Myths

Inca Myths

The History of a Myth

The History of a Myth

Losing Legitimacy

Losing Legitimacy

At the Crossroads of the Earth and the Sky

At the Crossroads of the Earth and the Sky

Signs of the Inka Khipu

Signs of the Inka Khipu

Microsoft Access 2000

Microsoft Access 2000

Inka History in Knots

Inka History in Knots

The History of a Myth

The History of a Myth

Gary Blackman

Gary Blackman

Gary Larson

Gary Larson

Gary Hume

Gary Hume

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