Inscripciones y escrituras andinas: Un sistema complejo y denso de visualidades, oralidades y espacialidades

Abstract

Evidence has been found of Andean peoples employing different kinds of mechanisms to record events and ideas. Texts written on leather, paper and clay discs have been reported since the latter half of the 19th century, but were considered to be artifacts of the past. Today, our increased access to ethnographic collections and works has provided important information about the role of clays discs in recording complex realities in written form, and their relation to Andean “cajones” (boxes) or portable altarpieces. This article examines these artifacts in order to highlight the existence of several flexible, multidimensional systems, identifying similarities among some of their elements. These systems have markedly different scopes and scales, but all are closely linked to the religious and ritual domains.