3 ms·
To me, an uneducated outsider, these remind me of terraced farm plots. They look like models of a region that one could use for recording ownership, taxation, y
by spenczar5 2y ago
To me, an uneducated outsider, these remind me of terraced farm plots. They look like models of a region that one could use for recording ownership, taxation, yields, or planning crop rotations.
I wonder why this article is so convinced they are abacuses.
- AlotOfReading 2y agoHistoric chroniclers described counting devices used by accountants that look like the carved devices. The name of these devices "yupana" literally derives from the verb "to count". They all preserve some kind of 5-3-2-1 relationship that's related to the usage. What's shown would make for very strange terraces. Most Andean terraces run perpendicular to the vertical face. Saddlepoints are much less common, probably because they're small, usually at the wrong altitude, have lots of erosion, and the air dynamics are really weird.
- dang 2y ago(the OP was https://cacm.acm.org/blogcacm/technical-marvels-part-3-the-yupana/ https://cacm.acm.org/blogcacm/technical-marvels-part-3-the-y... before we changed the URL)