The Inca used knotted strings to record data

The ancient Inca civilization, without a written language, developed an ingenious system called khipu (or quipu) to record numerical data. These devices, made of knotted, colored strings, were crucial for managing their vast empire, which stretched over 2,000 miles across the Andes. Different knot types and string colors represented numbers, categories like crops or livestock, and even dates.