Tarawari Tampu's Retied Strings (Tara-weary)

by hughpierre

Purpose

The re-tied strings refer to the inventory fraud discovered by the tocoyricoc of Antisuyu while he was inspecting the great tampu of Tarawari. It was part of an attempt to steal a number of military equipment for a suspected coup.

Document Structure

References

Khipu Board

Item | Jul 4, 2021

A thousand shields, spears, wood helmets and quilted cotton armour were shown to have been withdrawn from the inventory list. But the same figures were not recorded on the distribution list. So when the tampucamayoc went to visually check the stores, he was able to confirm that the proported equipment were indeed missing.

Publication Status

The sets of khipu stored in the tampu are generally only accessible to approved officials capable of reading the strings.

Historical Details

Background

The Tarawari Tampu is one of the largest store houses in the world. It sits right on the main trunk of the Chincaysuyu Road and is only a day's match away from the capital. A withdrawal of this size was not in itself unusual. Indeed, conscripts fulfilling their mit'a quota will draw arms of similar sizes twice a month on average. But there was a notable unprofessional clumsiness in its input.

Public Reaction

There was no public reaction to the discovery because the event was not widely advertised. Information was restricted to the most important people in the sun court.

Legacy

The tampered ledger was confiscated as evidence during the investigations after the attempted coup.

No self-respecting quipucamayoc would so twist and tangle the threads while untying the records.
— criticism of the frayed strings that attracted attention to them