Hair found in Inca device could change what's known about medieval civilisation
The finding, published in the journal Science Advances, changes what's known about numerical literacy among people in the medieval civilisation.
Incas used knotted-string devices called khipus to maintain records, especially numerical information.
These devices consisted of a main cord with numerous pendant cords attached, encoding information via the use of knots, their positions, and the colours.
Sometimes human hair is found wound on a khipu as a 'signature' to indicate its creator.
'Hair in the ancient Andes was a ritually powerful substance that represented the individual from whom it came,' researchers explained.
Until now, Spanish colonial-era documents have hinted that only male elites made khipus.
It was thought that 'khipu literacy' was not widespread outside of bureaucrats charged with keeping records.
'On the basis of primarily Spanish-language colonial chronicles, it is thought that khipus were created exclusively by male bureaucratic elites,' researchers wrote.
Much later in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the production of khipus was documented even among Andean labourers, peasant farmers, and female peasants.
However, the latest analysis of human hair woven into a late 15th century khipu by its creator suggests that even then low-ranking Inkas made and used khipus.
This particular khipu was found at a German auction with little documentation and later dated to 1498 AD.
It's main cord was made of human hair about 104 centimetrers long, folded and twisted, representing about eight years of growth, researchers say.
Scientists utilised advances in chemical analysis to make simultaneous measurements of levels of different elements, including carbon, nitrogen, and sulphur, from the hair sample.
They found that the person who made the device ate a commoner's diet of tubers and greens, rather than a bureaucrat's diet of meat and maize.
Further analysis, measuring oxygen and hydrogen values, determined that this low-ranking commoner likely lived in present-day southern Peru or northern Chile.
'Contrary to previous assumptions, commoners in the Inka Empire apparently created Inka-style khipus as well,' scientists wrote.
The study results also corroborate other recent findings that women also made these recording systems, together challenging the idea that khipu literacy was the sole domain of male elites.
'Khipu literacy in the Inka Empire may have been more inclusive and widespread than hitherto thought,' researchers concluded.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
3 days ago
- The Independent
Hair found in Inca device could change what's known about medieval civilisation
A hair strand uncovered from an Incan astronomical device suggests record-keeping in the empire was prevalent not only among elite individuals but also practiced by commoners. The finding, published in the journal Science Advances, changes what's known about numerical literacy among people in the medieval civilisation. Incas used knotted-string devices called khipus to maintain records, especially numerical information. These devices consisted of a main cord with numerous pendant cords attached, encoding information via the use of knots, their positions, and the colours. Sometimes human hair is found wound on a khipu as a 'signature' to indicate its creator. 'Hair in the ancient Andes was a ritually powerful substance that represented the individual from whom it came,' researchers explained. Until now, Spanish colonial-era documents have hinted that only male elites made khipus. It was thought that 'khipu literacy' was not widespread outside of bureaucrats charged with keeping records. 'On the basis of primarily Spanish-language colonial chronicles, it is thought that khipus were created exclusively by male bureaucratic elites,' researchers wrote. Much later in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the production of khipus was documented even among Andean labourers, peasant farmers, and female peasants. However, the latest analysis of human hair woven into a late 15th century khipu by its creator suggests that even then low-ranking Inkas made and used khipus. This particular khipu was found at a German auction with little documentation and later dated to 1498 AD. It's main cord was made of human hair about 104 centimetrers long, folded and twisted, representing about eight years of growth, researchers say. Scientists utilised advances in chemical analysis to make simultaneous measurements of levels of different elements, including carbon, nitrogen, and sulphur, from the hair sample. They found that the person who made the device ate a commoner's diet of tubers and greens, rather than a bureaucrat's diet of meat and maize. Further analysis, measuring oxygen and hydrogen values, determined that this low-ranking commoner likely lived in present-day southern Peru or northern Chile. 'Contrary to previous assumptions, commoners in the Inka Empire apparently created Inka-style khipus as well,' scientists wrote. The study results also corroborate other recent findings that women also made these recording systems, together challenging the idea that khipu literacy was the sole domain of male elites. 'Khipu literacy in the Inka Empire may have been more inclusive and widespread than hitherto thought,' researchers concluded.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Daily Mail
Scientists discover how terrifying cancer-causing parasitic worm can penetrate your body... without you feeling a thing
If a worm was trying to burrow into your skin, you'd be forgiven for thinking you'd feel it gnawing at your flesh—but scientists have identified how one wriggling parasite does so without you noticing. Schistosoma mansoni—also known as a blood fluke—is a 17mm-long flatworm which causes a chronic disease called intestinal schistosomiasis, which kills hundreds of thousands of people every year. It is the most prevalent parasite in humans—in 2021, the World Health Organisation estimated that there were 251.4 million people living with schistosomiasis across the globe—with the disease most widespread in Africa, parts of South America, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. Infection occurs during contact with infested water through activities like swimming, washing clothes, and fishing, when larvae—hosted in snails who have eaten eggs contained in infected human faeces—penetrate the skin. Once inside, it releases thousands of eggs that can spread through the body infecting vital organs. A new mouse study by researchers at the Tulane School of Medicine explored why blood flukes don't cause pain or itching when it penetrates the skin. Their findings show that the worm—referred to in scientific circles as S. mansoni— causes a reduction in the activity of TRPV1+, a protein that sends signals the brain interprets as heat, pain, or itching. Surprisingly, this also means that the worm often evades detection by the immune system, unlike other bacteria or parasites that typically cause pain, itching, or rashes. However, while the discovery, published in The Journal of Immunology, is undeniably skin-crawling, researchers hope that it could have some medical benefit. Study lead Dr. De'Broski R. Herbert, Professor of Immunology at Tulane School of Medicine, said that the worms could lead to new advances in pain medication, anti-inflammatories, and even preventative treatment against intestinal schistosomiasis He said: 'If we identify and isolate the molecules used by [parasitic worms] to block TRPV1+ activation, it may present a novel alternative to current opioid-based treatments for reducing pain. 'The molecules that block TRPV1+ could also be developed into therapeutics that reduce disease severity for individuals suffering from painful inflammatory conditions.' In May, it was reported that the number of British travellers who have brought the parasite home with them had reached a record high. Also called snail fever or bilharzia schistosomiasis, the infection can cause infertility, blindness, severe organ damage, and even bladder cancer if left untreated. Scientists speaking at Wellcome Trust in London in May said while the disease was once confined to sub-Saharan Africa, it is now spreading in parts of southern Europe. Outbreaks have been reported in the freshwater lakes and rivers of European holiday favourites like Spain, Portugal and parts of France. Official UK Government data shows an increasing number of British travellers are also being infected. The UK Health Security Agency recorded 123 cases in Britain in 2022, more than double the number tallied in the previous year and nearly triple the number recorded before the Covid pandemic. Bonnie Webster, principal researcher at the Schistosome Snail Resource at the Natural History Museum, said the worm is believed to have reached Europe from African travellers. 'It was people travelling from Africa, particularly Senegal, who imported the parasites,' she said according to The Telegraph. What is schistosomiasis? Schistosomiasis is an infection caused by a burrowing parasitic worm that lives in freshwater in tropical regions of Africa, South America, the Caribbean, the Middle East and Asia. It affects around 600 million people worldwide and kills 300,000 a year. Although the infection usually does not cause symptoms at first, it can gradually damage organs such as the bladder, kidneys and liver. Within a few weeks of infection, people may suffer fever, rashes, diarrhoea and abdominal pain. In the long term, schistosomiasis can cause organs to become permanently damaged, leading to seizures if the brain is affected, coughing up blood if the lungs are damaged and anaemia if the digestive system was targeted. 'Once one snail is infected, they infect a whole population of snails which then infect a whole population of humans.' Experts believe importation by tourists, combined with climate change making European waters warmer and more hospitable for the worms, are behind a rise in infections on the continent. However, as snail fever can be mistaken for host of other conditions, and sometimes cause no symptoms, many more people may be infected than official figures suggest. Infected humans can contaminate freshwater sources with the worm by shedding eggs in their urine and faeces. From there the worm infects a freshwater snail, where it grows to a size that enables it to infect a human. Infections can initially manifest as an itchy bumpy rash, colloquially known as 'swimmers itch'. As the illness develops, symptoms include fever, more rashes, a cough, diarrhoea, muscle and joint pain, stomach ache and a general sense of being unwell. These symptoms aren't caused by the worm itself but rather the body's reaction to it releasing thousands upon thousands of eggs. Experts say snail fever is often misdiagnosed at this stage as the result of some other infection. While the disease generally clears up on its own, patients are still at risk of long term health complications like organ damage as the parasite remains in their body. In rare cases, the eggs can reach the brain and spinal cord where it can cause a host of serious health problems. The NHS advises people who experience signs of infection, and who have been in an area where the worms are found, to contact their GP for advice. Treatment for snail fever involves taking a drug called praziquantel which kills the worms. People can reduce their risk of snail fever by avoiding swimming or paddling in fresh water as the worms cannot survive in the sea or in chlorinated swimming pools.
The Guardian
4 days ago
- The Guardian
How dangerous are wildfires and how can we stop them from getting worse?
With bigger and stronger wildfires becoming more common as Europe swelters in record-breaking heat, people will need to adapt and learn how to stay safe. Wildfires directly kill hundreds of people around the world each year. Though they may seem apocalyptic, the death toll is far lower than from floods, which kill thousands, and from heatwaves, which kill hundreds of thousands. But when you factor in smoke, the human cost rises rapidly. The latest study estimates that the air pollution spewed by wildfires kills a staggering 1.5 million people each year. The toxic fumes can reach so far that tendrils of smoke from Australian bushfires have menaced South America, while smoke from Canadian fires – which regularly suffocate cities across the US – have fouled the air in Europe. Many things can spark a wildfire: natural causes such as lightning, faulty infrastructure such as downed power lines, or people behaving badly. Devastating blazes in recent years have been started by smokers tossing cigarette butts, tourists failing to put out campfires, and even arsonists intentionally setting nature alight. But whether those sparks turn into small fires or raging blazes depends on the weather. Fires need hot, dry fuel to burn, and they spread further with strong winds. Fossil fuel pollution has heated the planet by about 1.3C, raising the risk of prolonged heat that turns forests and grasslands into tinderboxes. In some regions, such as the Mediterranean, global heating is also fuelling droughts that dry out lush greenery. Scientists have found that such shifts have made the wildfires that have happened this year in places including California, South Korea and Australia more likely – in some cases doubling the chance of extreme weather conditions that help fires spread. Even as the planet has heated up, the area torched by fires has fallen. This is because people have taken nature that used to burn freely and turned it into farms or cities – in recent decades mainly in Africa – that stop the spread of flames. The latest models find land use changes and other human drivers have shrank the burned area by 19.1% since 1900, while climate changes increased it by 15.8% – resulting in a small decline of 3.3% overall. The conditions for ferocious fires are expected to worsen as the planet bakes. Two separate indices of fire weather project a steady rise in the number of days with high fire danger as temperatures inch higher, a recent study found. By the end of the century, the total burned area is projected to rise by 40% even in an optimistic scenario for cutting carbon pollution, according to a separate study. In a worst-case scenario, it is set to double. The danger that wildfires pose to people and property can drop sharply by managing land better. This can include creating fire breaks to stem the spread of an inferno, stopping new settlement in places prone to fires, and even sending herds of goats into abandoned farmland to graze away overgrown vegetation. In some places firefighters are trying the technique of intentionally burning land to avoid a buildup of fuel that could lead to catastrophic fires – a long-running Indigenous practice in Australia and North America that European fire experts are starting to adopt. If you live somewhere at risk of wildfires, put a plan together before disaster strikes. This could include identifying safe routes and nearby shelters, and packing an emergency bag. Some fire services recommend creating a safe zone around your home that is free from leaves and flammable materials. Experts say you should vacate immediately if authorities tell you to – or if your home is at risk but warnings have not come. To avoid the smoke, keep windows closed and use respirator masks.
