Journey through the Americas

A major earthquake damaged important sites in Nepal's Kathmandu Valley including the Gaddi Baithak, the former royal residence of Nepal’s kings.  Its restoration and reinforcement ensures the site’s resilience into the future.

Restoring cultural heritage after disasters

The United States values diverse cultures. Working together with international partners to preserve heritage protects culturally important sites, objects, and practices and increases mutual understanding.   Cultural heritage preservation also engages communities, spurs economic growth, and promotes tolerance and peace.

Preserving ancient technology

Chankillo is the earliest known astronomical observatory in the Americas. This project conserves its horizon markers and preserves the knowledge and skills of these early astronomers for a new generation.  

Protecting against damage from climate change

History and ingenuity are on full display in the architecture of Great Zimbabwe.  Today, the centuries old structures are threatened by invasive plants. A U.S. Ambassadors Fund project supports their ecological restoration. 

Preserving traditional navigation techniques

Marshall Islanders have a complex system for navigating the ocean based on reading swells and currents. The U.S. Ambassadors Fund supported the documentation of this traditional technique and hands-on training to share it with the next generation.  

Restoring a damaged national symbol

This project supports the restoration of the Elbow Reef Lighthouse in the Abaco Islands, damaged in Hurricane Dorian, the last remaining hand-operated lighthouse in the world and an important national symbol that appears on both Bahamian currency and their passports. 

Preserving cultural heritage by working with communities

Located in Historic Cairo, the shrine of Al-Imam al-Shafi’i is the burial place of one of Sunni Islam’s foremost figures. This project supported the restoration of the mausoleum in partnership with members of the local community, who continue to use the site.   

Supporting social justice

The U.S. Ambassadors Fund supports social justice by maintaining sites and archives related to struggles for freedom including the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Celebrating diverse cultural heritage

The Romanian village of Alma Vii has one of the best examples of a fortified Saxon church. The U.S. Ambassadors Fund worked with local partners to preserve the site and celebrate the diverse cultural heritage of the area.  

Sharing innovative conservation techniques

Wat Chaiwatthanram in Ayutthaya, Thailand, a 17th century Buddhist temple, is a model for innovative conservation techniques using local materials and a regional center for preservation education in Southeast Asia.

While we understand many aspects of how khipus encoded information, there remains much that is still unknown. The full decipherment of khipu texts continues to elude researchers. 

Scholars believe that Wari administrators used khipus to help run the empire.  One of the most distinctive features of Wari khipus is that some of the cords on each khipu were wrapped with brightly coloured yarns, resulting in strings with striking designs.

Many Wari khipus consist of wrapped and knotted pendant cords attached to a loop.

Others have a horizontal top cord from which hang pendants wrapped in vibrant colours. Wari khipus have simple overhand knots organised in a base 10 system. 

Imperial bureaucrats utilized khipus to record demographic data, labour tribute, inventories, ritual offerings, and similar kinds of information. 
Narrative khipus encoded biographies, histories, and poetry. 

Inca runners known as chaskis carried khipu missives along Inca roads from one administrative centre to another, allowing for long distance communication.

About 1400 khipus exist today in museum and university collections around the world.

Most of the surviving Inca khipus are made of cotton, although some consist of animal fibres, and occasionally include human hairs, feathers, and other objects.  The standard Inca khipu was composed of a horizontal primary cord from which were suspended multiple pendant cords.

Knots on Inca khipus usually represented decimal numbers, which were determined by the type of knot and its position. 

Needlework bundles occasionally tied to the end of a primary cord indicated the khipu's subject matter; the structure and colours of the primary cord also may have designated the topic.

Colour patterns on the pendant cords revealed whether the khipu encoded information about individual items or summarised aggregate data from multiple khipus.

We now know, however, that khipus continued to be made throughout the Spanish colonial period and into the Republican era.  Andean witnesses read from khipus during court cases in the 16th and 17th centuries. 

This khipu testimony from colonial trials, known as "paper khipus", provides insights into the ongoing role of khipus during the colonial era. Some Roman Catholic missionaries encouraged the use of khipus for catechesis, confession, and prayers.