> It’s almost kind of more impressive that the Incan empire of maybe 10 million people got by on the barter system. In _Debt_, Graeber argues that it is largel

> It’s almost kind of more impressive that the Incan empire of maybe 10 million people got by on the barter system. In _Debt_, Graeber argues that it is largely a myth that pre modern civilizations relied on barter, and instead used different systems for tracking debt between individuals and entities. He says this of the Incas knotted strings in a footnote: > I note in passing that a study of the Inca khipu system itself would itself be quite fascinating in this regard; the strings were used to record both obligations we would consider financial, and others we would consider ritual, since as in so many Eurasian languages, the words “debt” and “sin” were the same in Quechua as well