SUCCESS?? - Popular Khipu Decipherment Project
denni...@yahoo.com
A couple of weeks ago, I invited readerships here to emply their
historical/language/cultural and, above all, decipherment skills in the
service of breaking one of the great remaining mysteries of the
archeological world ... breaking the Inca khipu (knot-record) system
which the Incas used in place of writing.
Well, since then, looking at a related phenomenon, tocapu, or highly
abstract symbols which were embroidered in belts across the Inca-era
ceremonial garments, I seem to have run into success :-)
Using the method proposed by William Burns Glynn, an amateur
cryptologist who studied both khipus and tocapus for the past several
decades, this evening I was able to translate a number of the the
shorter inscriptions on some of these ceremonial garments. (I posted
pictures of about a dozen of these garments on my blog a number of days
ago).
William Burns Glynn has proposed that the Incas used a 10 consonant
system to record information both on khipus and by means of these
stylized tocapu patterns.
Anyway, I employed the method on a couple of the less complicated
garments and (to my surprise :-) was able to arrive at some reasonable
translations.
The best being for a garment that I labeled TBC3. The translation
being:
Worthy Speaker (Oracle) of High Cusco.
Given that these ceremonial garments were presumably used in state /
religious functions, the translation makes sense.
Anyway, below is a picture of the belt of symbols that I investigated:
http://www.geocities.com/denniskriz/tocapu/decipher-tbc3.jpg
As well as pictures of the other ceremonial garments that I put up on
the blog for investigation.
http://www.geocities.com/denniskriz/tocapu-project.html
Finally, for a deeper background as well as a listing of a great many
other resources available either online of via bookstores, please refer
to the Popular Khipu Decipherment Project blog itself.
http://pop-khipu-project.blogspot.com/
Take care ... and play :-)
Dennis
denni...@yahoo.com
marks...@gmail.com
group for the discussion of abstract games. Your self-glorified,
Popular Pupu Project has absolutely no relevance here. Go peddle your
pupu somewhere else.
denni...@yahoo.com
marks...@gmail.com wrote:
> Dennis, let me decipher something for you. "rec.games.abstract": A
> group for the discussion of abstract games. Your self-glorified,
> Popular Pupu Project has absolutely no relevance here. Go peddle your
> pupu somewhere else.
>
Hey Mark,
Given that there have been 5 original posts on "rec.games.abstract" of
which one's about Sudoku and another is a 7 by 7 pattern game to help
people with color blindness, it would seem that postings on Khipu /
Tocapu decipherment would actually be quite relevant as the skills that
would have to be leaned in deciphering these Inca forms of
communication would involve discerning patterns.
The only difference (and one would think that one could see this as a
plus) is that Khipu / Tocapu decipherment would be real world
application rather than simply a game.
As for "glorifying" this project ... If I wanted credit, I'd keep it to
myself. But I figure that there are other people out there (among them
gamers and puzzle enthusiasts) who given access to the needed resources
would probably be much better than this than I would.
Anyway, take care man...
Dennis
denni...@yahoo.com
marks...@gmail.com
> Hey Mark,
>
> ...Khipu / Tocapu decipherment would be real world
> application rather than simply a game.
>
Exactly. Pupu decipherment is a real world application. Not a game.
Therefore totally irrelevant in a game discussion group. Yes, other
people have spammed the group with irrelevant material, and yes, there
probably is a skill set crossover. But the fact remains that Pupu
decipherment has absolutely nothing to do with abstract games, making
your solicitations here spam. Stop spamming the group, spam boy.
denni...@yahoo.com
Given the cross-over skill-set, and that approaching the decipherment
of these highly abstract symbols _can be_ approached as a game (if a
game with a real-world purpose and even real world reward ... even if
internal... "Hey baby, in my spare time, I helping solve one of the
lworld's last great archeological mysteries ..." ), whether you call it
"totally irrelevant" to a game discussion group ... does not exactly
make it so. (Unless you're pretending to be something of a CZAR of
games...).
It would seem, that it would be quite relevant actually :-).
Dennis
marks...@gmail.com
the czar but simply because a decipherment project is not an abstract
game. The assumption that a person who is good at abstract games would
also be good at deciphering doesn't make deciphering an abstract game.
The assumption that deciphering "can be approached as a game" (whatever
that means) doesn't make deciphering an abstract game. An abstract
game is something like Reversi, or Go, or Checkers. Not a deciphering
project.
Once again, the title of this group is rec.games.abstract. Simple,
obvious, and self explanatory. Your whole logic of why a real world
decipherment project is appropriate here is completely fucked.
Abstract means having nothing to do with anything in the real world.
Now Dennis Kriz arrives at rec.games.abstract with something that he
believes should actually be more worthwhile to the readers than
abstract games because it's real and because it's not "simply a game."
You're an idiot.
I'm sure there must be some place where your decipherment project
discussion would be appropriate. I don't know where that place is. I
just know it's not here.