Andean textiles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (November 2007)

Andean textile manufacture has an ancient and advanced history.

[edit] Origins

The Norte Chico civilization were the earliest known users of textiles in the Andes. They wove them of cotton. They were also the first to use the Khuipu. The khuipu is a series of knotted string that was used for accounting, using base 10, and also possibly as a binary logographic system of writing.

[edit] Quilted armour

Quilted armour of the Andeans was much lighter, more comfortable, and almost as protective as European steel plate armour.

[edit] Loom

The Andeans used the back strap loom.

The Andeans had very advanced technology in textile technology, about as advanced as Eurasians were in metal technology^{[citation needed]}.