Quipus and Witches' Knots: The Role of the Knot in Primitive and Ancient Cultures

Day, Cyrus Lawrence

Lawrence: The University of Kansas Press, 1967. Hardcover. Pine green cloth, green & aqua and olive dust jacket, 158 pp., BW illus. and line drawings. Errata sheet laid in. G+ (Ex-art library with front cover label, bar code, and few marks within; has average wear to DJ edges; pages are crisp and clean.). Item #153970

"This essay in cultural anthropology provides a comprehensive view of the way primitive people in all parts of the world once utilized knots: mnemonic knots -- to record dates, numbers, and cultural traditions; magic knots -- to cure diseases, bewitch enemies, and control the forces of nature; and practical knots -- to tie things and hold things together. [This book], which is abundantly illustrated, often surprises the reader with the unexpected ways in which the once universal dependence of men on knots has left its markl on the language, customs, and though of modern civilized peoples." (dj) Who knew? Includes examples from ancient Babylon, Rome, Egypt, Greece, etc.