Khipu and Blockchain: A Historical-Functional Comparison of Recordkeeping, Control, and Information Traceability
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55873/vm50dx96Keywords:
archaeological information, auditing, data governance, public administration, sociotechnical systemsAbstract
Comparing the Inka khipu with blockchain requires a precise distinction among functional similarity, technological equivalence, and historical continuity. The study sought to identify convergences and divergences between these recordkeeping architectures and to determine the conditions under which the analogy is methodologically valid. A qualitative, historical-comparative, critical integrative review was conducted using 60 verifiable sources published between 1980 and 2026; 42 were scientific articles from 2021-2026. The synthesis combined hermeneutic analysis, triangulation of archaeological, ethnohistorical, accounting, and technological evidence, and an explicit appraisal of evidential strength. Partial correspondences were identified in conventional encoding, aggregation, documentary redundancy, accountability, and the territorial circulation of information. Irreducible differences concerned cryptography, protocol-based consensus, computational replication, time-stamping, and programmable execution. The study concludes that the khipu was neither blockchain nor modern distributed accounting, but a sociotechnical architecture of recordkeeping and institutional validation that is comparable only in relation to functional problems. The proposed framework strengthens accounting history, public administration, and the sustainable governance of Indigenous data
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