Ancient American Civilizations: Record Keeping and Writing
-Aztecs Writing and Record Keeping:The Aztecs had a lot of complexity and ingenuity of their record keeping system. They left the most extensive mathematical writing of any pre-columbian people. They used several types of algorthyms to calculate area. Their main tool to measure was a land rod, and when a measure did not match a precise number of "land rods" the aztecs added symbols, such as arrow, a hand, or a bone to indicate the remaining length.
-The Incas Writing and Record Keeping:The Incas used a device called the quipo for record keeping. Each governor of a province had attached to his person many such quipo, who kept an accurate count of population, tribute, and soldiers. The Spanish conquistadors, much admired this system.
-The Mayans Writing and Record Keeping: Out of all the ancient civilizations in the Ancient Americas the Mayans writing system was most sophististicated and best developed. The Mayans used a syllabic system. It consisted of constonant and vowels. The Mayan Alphabetic system was called logophonetic. It has signs that stand for a whole word or for part of a word. It also had signs that stand for sounds.