Papers by Jeffrey Splitstoser
The Textile Museum Journal, 2025
This article presents a comprehensive analysis of khipu 91.111 from The Textile Museum Collection... more This article presents a comprehensive analysis of khipu 91.111 from The Textile Museum Collection, focusing on its structural and material attributes to investigate the information that may be encoded within it and to hypothesize its possible referent. The study examines a range of physical characteristics, including cord color, spacing between cords, cord diameter, length, and cord structure. Khipu 91.111 is organized into five distinct units, and this analysis evaluates whether and how these divisions may have functioned as meaningful organizational elements. Through detailed comparison of color patterns, the number of pendants per unit and subdivision, and the distribution of knot types and values, this research explores the khipu’s internal structural relationships. The findings contribute to a broader understanding of khipu construction principles and their role in Andean information management, offering insights into how khipu 91.111 may have operated as a record-keeping device within its cultural context.
The Textile Museum Journal, 2025
Appendix Analysis of Khipu 91. 111 The main text discusses how the khipu was partitioned into fou... more Appendix Analysis of Khipu 91. 111 The main text discusses how the khipu was partitioned into four units that are defined by multiple attributes including spacing between pendants, pendant color(s), the presence of subsidiary cords, and knotting patterns. This appendix provides detailed information about the attributes of khipu 91.111 presented in four sections, one section for each unit, AD. The attributes discussed here are defined in the main text and include the number of cords, cord attachments, knot twist, knot orientation, end knots, and cord color, material,
structures, lengths, twists, and diameters. The implications of these data are discussed in the Summary, Discussion, and Conclusions section of the main text.
The Wari Enclave of Espíritu Pampa, 2020
The Textile Museum Journal, 2022
This article presents information about two knotted-cord fabrics: one is an Inka khipu in The Tex... more This article presents information about two knotted-cord fabrics: one is an Inka khipu in The Textile Museum Collection (TM 2002.33.43), and the other is a late nineteenth century census made by Indigenous people of the Talamanca region of Costa Rica, which is also discussed by Scott Palumbo et al. in this volume of The Textile Museum Journal. The author compares and contrasts these two objects, focusing on their formal and structural attributes including dimensions, cord structure, color, and knotting patterns. The author uses these data to infer ideas not only about how these objects were made but also about how information was recorded in them. He also considers the kinds of information the Talamanca census might contain in addition to recording a straight forward count of the Talamanca region’s population. Ultimately, this article asks if the knotted-cord device from Costa Rica represents a knotted-cord tradition that might have functioned like Andean khipus.
PLOS ONE
Standardized Inka tunics, or unku, were created under the auspices of the state as symbolic expre... more Standardized Inka tunics, or unku, were created under the auspices of the state as symbolic expressions of its expansionist power. To ensure these textiles acquired the status of effective insignias of power and territorial control, the Inka established and imposed technical and stylistic canons for their production (techne) by means of highly-skilled state weavers. In the provinces, social groups that came under imperial rule, local expert weaving agents adopted the conventions of the state and included meaningful symbolic elements of the idiosyncrasies, traditions, and experiential knowledge of the local community (metis). We therefore propose that this was not a unidirectional process and that the Caleta Vitor Inka unku (hereon referred to as the CV unku), presented here, reflects a syncretism promoted by local weavers. In terms of methods, we have developed a decoding tool for the unku, with the aim of distinguishing state from local hallmarks, thereby revealing the syncretic co...
Mesoamerican Spindle Whorls from a Technological and Ideological Perspective
Wari-Style Khipus from El Castillo de Huarmey
To Spin and Whorl: Functional and Symbolic Associations of Chancay Weaving Tools
Weaving the structure of the cosmos: Cloth, agency, and worldview at Cerrillos, an Early Paracas site in the Ica Valley, Peru
Weaving the Structure of the Cosmos: Cloth, Agency, and Worldview at Cerrillos, An Early Paracas ... more Weaving the Structure of the Cosmos: Cloth, Agency, and Worldview at Cerrillos, An Early Paracas Site in the Ica Valley, Peru. Aladin Research Commons. ...
APPENDIX 2: Wari Textiles Preserved at the Wari Site of Espíritu Pampa
Cerrillos is an Early to Middle Paracas civic-ceremonial site located in the upper Ica Valley of ... more Cerrillos is an Early to Middle Paracas civic-ceremonial site located in the upper Ica Valley of Peru. The site is known for its finely plastered adobe architecture, beautifully decorated ceramics, and complex textiles, many of which are decorated with camelid hair. Cerrillos was located in a strategically important place where the mountains meet the coastal desert and the Ica River bends south, a likely intersection in a road system that connected Cerrillos to contemporary sites in the Paracas region and beyond. This paper focuses on several early textiles, ceramics, and other artifacts, including ceramic palettes used for gold working and wooden earspools, that suggest that Cerrillos was involved in a cultural phenomenon or interaction sphere that linked sites as far away was Chavin de Huantar through the interchange of goods, beliefs, and practices. The paper presents a complete description of the textiles excavated at Cerrillos between 1999 and 2002, focusing on two fabric fragm...
New Evidences for Early Paracas Textiles and Ceramics at Cerrillos, Ica Valley, Perú
Cerrillos es un sitio civico-ceremonial con ocupacion entre las epocas Paracas Temprano y Medio, ... more Cerrillos es un sitio civico-ceremonial con ocupacion entre las epocas Paracas Temprano y Medio, localizado en el valle alto de Ica, Peru. Es conocido por su arquitectura de adobe enlucida de manera fina, ceramica bellamente decorada y textiles complejos, muchos de ellos decorados con fibra de camelido. Estuvo localizado en un lugar de importancia estrategica, donde las montanas se encuentran con el desierto costero y el rio Ica gira hacia el sur, una probable interseccion en un sistema de caminos que lo conectaba con sitios contemporaneos en la region de Paracas y mas alla. Este articulo se enfoca en diversos textiles, ceramica y otros artefactos tempranos, entre ellos paletas de ceramica usadas para trabajar el oro y aretes en forma de argollas de madera, lo que sugiere que este complejo estaba involucrado en un fenomeno cultural o esfera de interaccion que vinculaba sitios tan lejanos como Chavin de Huantar mediante el intercambio de bienes, creencias y practicas. Este articulo p...
Zea Books
Systematic excavations at the Castillo de Huarmey archaeological site, located on the North Coast... more Systematic excavations at the Castillo de Huarmey archaeological site, located on the North Coast of Peru, enabled researchers to collect an immense number of fabrics. During the first season of textile investigations, carried out in July of 2014 by American and Polish researchers, 724 objects were examined, including textile fragments, yarns, and cordage. A general description of the basic structures indicates a variety of weaving techniques. Although the collection consists mainly of plain weave of all kinds, new structures such as three-dimensional cross-knit looping and feather-mosaic work were recognized, none of which were encountered among textiles collected from the surface in previous decades.
Science advances, Sep 1, 2016
Archaeological research has identified the use of cultivated cotton (Gossypium barbadense) in the... more Archaeological research has identified the use of cultivated cotton (Gossypium barbadense) in the ancient Andes dating back to at least 7800 years ago. Because of unusual circumstances of preservation, 6000-year-old cotton fabrics from the Preceramic site of Huaca Prieta on the north coast of Peru retained traces of a blue pigment that was analyzed and positively identified as an indigoid dye (indigotin), making it the earliest known use of indigo in the world, derived most likely from Indigofera spp. native to South America. This predates by ~1500 years the earliest reported use of indigo in the Old World, from Fifth Dynasty Egypt [ca. 4400 BP (before present)]. Indigo is one of the most valued and most globally widespread dyes of antiquity and of the present era (it being the blue of blue jeans).
Potential applications for digital image processing at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
Aviation, space, and environmental medicine, 1988
Digital image processing systems are fast becoming valuable tools in the quantitative study of vi... more Digital image processing systems are fast becoming valuable tools in the quantitative study of visual images. These systems not only enhance image features, but provide the investigator with information about those features expressed in numeric form. Now, statistical analyses can be performed on information that was formerly only qualitative. At the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), we are studying the potential applications of digital image processing systems to a variety of problems including morphological analysis of cell, tissue, and organ samples; reconstruction and enhancement of photographic images; three-dimensional reconstruction of organ systems; analysis of terrain, material, and human remains involved in aircraft accidents; and the archiving of histological images and pathological records. This report outlines the basic characteristics of image processing systems and discusses their potential applications in pathological studies at the AFIP. Information was col...
Parenthetical notation is a formulaic method that was developed by the author to clearly, consist... more Parenthetical notation is a formulaic method that was developed by the author to clearly, consistently, and unambiguously record yarn structure. The method is modeled after mathematical expressions, in which nested parentheses dictate a consistent order of operations and are dealt with from the inside out. Like in most formulaic methods for recording yarn structure, the letters "S" and "Z" denote twist direction that is modified by a coefficient signifying the number of yarns that are twisted together. 1 Definitions of yarn, spin, twist, ply, and stage.
Color, Structure, and Meaning in Middle Horizon Khipus
Where the Land Meets the Sea: Fourteen Millennia of Human History at Huaca Prieta, Peru, 2017
1. Aleksandra Laszczka, Jeffrey C. Splitstoser and Miłosz Giersz, 2017, Pre-Columbian Textile Structures at Castillo de Huarmey, Peru, in: PreColumbian Textile Conference VII / Jornadas deTextiles PreColombinos VII, edited by Lena Bjerregaard and Ann Peters, Zea Books, Lincoln, 2017
Systematic excavations at the Castillo de Huarmey archaeological site, located on the North Coast... more Systematic excavations at the Castillo de Huarmey archaeological site, located on the North Coast of Peru, enabled researchers to collect an immense number of fabrics. During the first season of textile investigations, carried out in July of 2014 by American and Polish researchers, 724 objects were examined, including textile fragments, yarns, and cordage. A general description of the basic structures indicates a variety of weaving techniques. Although the collection consists mainly of plain weave of all kinds, new structures such as three-dimensional cross-knit looping and feather-mosaic work were recognized, none of which were encountered among textiles collected from the surface in previous decades.
Science Advances, 2016
Archaeological research has identified the use of cultivated cotton (Gossypium barbadense) in the... more Archaeological research has identified the use of cultivated cotton (Gossypium barbadense) in the ancient Andes dating back to at least 7800 years ago. Because of unusual circumstances of preservation, 6000-year-old cotton fabrics from the Preceramic site of Huaca Prieta on the north coast of Peru retained traces of a blue pigment that was analyzed and positively identified as an indigoid dye (indigotin), making it the earliest known use of indigo in the world, derived most likely from Indigofera spp. native to South America. This predates by ~1500 years
the earliest reported use of indigo in the Old World, from Fifth Dynasty Egypt [ca. 4400 BP (before present)]. Indigo is one of the most valued and most globally widespread dyes of antiquity and of the present era (it being the blue of blue jeans).
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Papers by Jeffrey Splitstoser
structures, lengths, twists, and diameters. The implications of these data are discussed in the Summary, Discussion, and Conclusions section of the main text.
the earliest reported use of indigo in the Old World, from Fifth Dynasty Egypt [ca. 4400 BP (before present)]. Indigo is one of the most valued and most globally widespread dyes of antiquity and of the present era (it being the blue of blue jeans).