The appearance of writing is the most important milestone in the development of mankind, along with oral speech. Cuneiform writing, hieroglyphs and, of course, knot writing gave people an amazing opportunity to exchange important information, store it, pass it on from generation to generation, accumulating tremendous experience. Nodular
letter is the main theme of this story. It is one of the oldest types of writing, the echoes of which can still be found in our everyday speech.
Knot writing was known on almost all continents. It was used in ancient China, in the territories inhabited by the first tribes of the Slavs, and on the American continent. This type of information transfer is based on knitting knots of various shapes, each of which corresponded to a specific word or action. It was a whole system of vivid images capable of describing very complex pictures of everyday life or historical events. It would probably not be entirely correct to consider knot writing as writing. It was more of a way to capture information and pass it on to others. The principles of this letter were quite simple: knots of a certain shape were tied on ropes of different colors and lengths. Some served to count people, food or soldiers, others denoted the status or importance of the message. Cords of different colors could serve as a symbol for a specific object (for example, a potato or a horse) or were intended to draw attention to the special status of information. Until now, we use such an expression as "passes like a red thread." It was the red color that spoke of the special importance of the data.
Maya knot writing, for example, according to many researchers of ancient cultures,
had a sacred meaning and was used only by priests. There are hypotheses that it was it that became the progenitor of the pictograms that we can see on the famous calendar of a great civilization. However, the true meaning of all its symbols has not yet been figured out, as well as there is no exact data that the knot writing was quite widespread in this territory. A similar history of this writing can be traced among other peoples of North America. Aztec knot writing was probably not popular with the people, or was not used at all.
In ancient China, it was used in the cult of the emperor and considered the art of religious priests. Today, ornate knots - congratulations - can be seen on festive decorations from the Middle Kingdom. A certain amount of information is only about the "quipu". This is what the Inca knot letter was called, which received
sufficient distribution among representatives of this civilization. The Slavs have a knot letter,like a kipu, it allowed for complex calculations, and over time they turned into a set of symbols that had a special “protective” meaning. That is why the Slavic warriors tied knots - nauzes - on their weapons, firmly believing that they could bring them victory in battle. Even modern man has retained the tradition of tying a knot “for memory”. We do not stop looking for the "thread of the conversation" and delve into the "intricacies of the plot."
