Table of contents for April 2023 in History Revealed

Rather than writing on paper or clay tablets, the Inca stored information through a sequence of knots on strings known as a khipu. The system of numbers used on Inca khipus has been deciphered as following a base ten system (as used in the Quechua language and by us today). Each cluster of knots on a string represents a digit, with the gap between clusters showing the move from tens to hundreds to thousands and so on. Figure-eight knots represent the number one. Long knots with one or more additional turns show one to nine. In the upper section, single knots are used to show numbers above 10 (for example, 30 is three simple knots in the “tens” position, and 400 is four simple knots in the “hundreds” position). The…

MEET THE EXPERT BILL SILLAR is professor of archaeology and technology in society at the UCL Institute of Archaeology. To hear Professor Sillar discuss the history of the Inca empire on the HistoryExtra podcast, scan the QR code shown here or visit historyextra.com/inca-podcast “The empire harnessed an extraordinary diversity of cultures, languages and environments” Andean societies developed independent of influence from Europe, Asia or Africa more than 15,000 years ago. Many civilisations had come and gone before the Inca state emerged, and the Inca were able to harness and develop the domesticated plants and animals, technological innovations and complex forms of social organisation that their forebears had left behind. The empire grew to incorporate around 10 million people with an extraordinary diversity of cultures, languages and environments. The amazing skill…

USS INDIANAPOLIS “That's the USS Indianapolis,“ mumbles Quint as he points to a scar on his arm; a tattoo he had removed a long time ago. The very name stops Hooper's laughter. The jovial mood is lost and the men's drunken, one-upping exchange of stories about their shark-inflicted wounds abandoned. A look of pained understanding now on his face, Hooper can only say: “You were on the Indianapolis?” So begins a monologue by the grizzled, briny and fanatical shark hunter Quint in Jaws (1975), a chilling three and a half minutes that have gone down in cinema lore. At the core of the scene was a real ship, a heavy cruiser sunk by the enemy in World War II after completing the most top-secret of missions. And that was just…

SHORT ANSWER Who knew medieval combat and flying in space had the same problems? LONG ANSWER In 1962, someone at Garrett AiResearch, one of the companies trying to develop spacesuits for Nasa, contacted the Tower of London to ask for detailed images and schematics of one of the suits of armour in its collection. The armour in question had been made for King Henry VIII for the Field of Cloth of Gold in 1520, an exquisite suit made of 235 overlapping steel plate parts held together by sliding rivets and weighing around 42kg. Built for foot combat rather than fighting on horseback, the armour didn't have any gaps but still gave its wearers maximum mobility, which was exactly what the astronauts needed. While Garret AiResearch got the details they wanted,…

BOOK OF THE MONTH UPROAR!: Satire, Scandal and Printmakers in Georgian London By Alice Loxton Icon Books, £25, hardback, 416 pages The Georgian penchant for satire and salaciousness, for exposing the corruption and depravity behind those powdered exteriors, is explored in this vibrant book. It focuses on the work of three satirists – James Gillray, Thomas Rowlandson and Isaac Cruikshank –and the ways in which their imaginative, irreverent printmaking sent shockwaves through the 18thcentury political and social establishment. It was a heady era of revolutionary ideas, cultural innovation and celebrity intrigue, and Alice Loxton manages to bring it vividly to life. Medieval Horizons: Why the Middle Ages Matter By Ian Mortimer Bodley Head, £22, hardback, 256 pages It's easy, from a 21st-century vantage point, to characterise the Middle Ages as…

c13,000 BC Paleolithic huntergatherers migrate over the Bering Land Bridge from eastern Eurasia into North America. The people and their descendants move across the continent, before advancing into Central and South America, where they form new settlements. c2500 BC Nomadic peoples living along the northwestern seaboard of South America begin cultivating potato, corn (maize), cotton and other crops, leading to the emergence of the first agrarian communities and sophisticated Andean cultures. c900–200 BC c200–650 AD c600–1000 The ascendant Wari state comes to preside over a vast part of the Andes – from the southern highlands to the northern coast. The artistry of the Wari people, as well as their road networks, influence other cultures in the region, leaving a lasting legacy. c650–800 Moche craftsmanship, as demonstrated in the ornate piece…

INCA BELIEFS YOUR ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THE INCA EMPIRE The Inca were forever looking skywards. Indeed, cosmology was the guiding framework for the way they understood the workings of the world down on the land. Not only did the name of the empire's capital, Cuzco, mean ‘navel of the earth’, but the success or otherwise of Inca agriculture, and thus the empire's survival, was firmly associated with the movements of the planets. The most fundamental recipient of Inca worship was the Sun. The most revered deity in the pantheon was Inti, the Sun god, with temples built across the empire for worshippers to gather and make offerings to him. In Cuzco, white llamas would be publicly sacrificed and gifted to Inti in order that his life-giving rays would continue to…

CUZCO Cuzco was the homeland, capital and religious centre of the Inca empire. Pedro Sancho, one of the first Spaniards to enter the city, described it as “where the lords of this land have their residence; it is so large and so beautiful that it would be worthy of admiration even in Spain; and it is full of the palaces of the lords, because no poor people live there.” In order to construct the city, the Inca had to drain a swampy area, convert two rivers into canals, and terrace the steep slopes of the valley to provide platforms for buildings. Between the waterways, the narrow streets formed roughly quadrangular blocks with walled enclosures for elite housing. At its heart was a main plaza with the Saphy River running between…

BOOKS The Incas (2nd Edition) By Terence N D'Altroy (Wiley-Blackwell, 2014) Drawing on history, archaeology, and ethnography, D'Altroy charts the Inca civilisation's extraordinary rise as a sophisticated Andean society to its rapid demise little more than a century later at the hands of Spanish conquistadors. Lost City of the Incas By Hiram Bingham (W&N, 2003; first published in 1948) In 1911, the American academic Hiram Bingham travelled to Peru in search of the legendary city of Vilcabamba, but instead stumbled on the perfectly preserved ruins of Machu Picchu, a discovery he describes in this, his bestselling book. Peru: A Journey in Time By Cecilia Pardo and Jago Cooper (British Museum Press, 2021) Documenting the British Museum's landmark 2021 exhibition, this beautifully illustrated book features a range of essays that survey…

Surviving the sinking and the days in the water, Charles B McVay III, captain of the Indianapolis, was court-martialled – the only time such an action has been taken in US Navy history. Although cleared of failing to abandon ship in a “timely” manner, he was found guilty of not employing evasive zigzagging manoeuvres before the attack. That is despite the extraordinary move of having the commander of the Japanese submarine testify, only for him to say that zigzagging would have achieved nothing. McVay never fully recovered, and took his own life in 1968. But the survivors knew their captain had been scapegoated and worked to clear his name for decades. Finally, in the 1990s, public sympathy rose in their favour after a 12-year-old student, Hunter Scott, made headlines after…

BEE GONE In the 11th century, a French peasant known as Leutard of Vertus was denounced as a heretic after declaring that he dreamed of a swarm of bees flying into his body (via the genitals) and out of his mouth before speaking to him. INITIAL BRANDING The British retailer WHSmith was founded by a HW Smith (Henry Walton). He and his wife Anna opened the first store in 1792 on Little Grovenor Street, London, but it was their son, William Henry, who established the name. BETRAYED BY FRIENDS When mobs revolted against French occupation in Bruges in May 1302, they made anyone suspicious say the phrase schild en vriend (‘shield and friend’). The French found it hard to pronounce, so would be identified. INCANCEIVABLE Edward King, Viscount Kingsborough, published…

SHORT ANSWER More than 50 years after the slave trade was outlawed, the Clotilda transported 110 Africans LONG ANSWER The Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves went into effect in 1808, meaning it was no longer legal for ships to bring slaves across the Atlantic Ocean to the US. That didn't stop shipowners from trying: from 1837 to 1860, 74 cases of illegal slaving were tried. The last voyage took place in 1860, when 110 Africans were forcibly transported aboard the Clotilda. And all because Alabama businessman Timothy Meaher made a bet that he could get round the law. Captained by William Foster, the ship sailed from the Kingdom of Dahomey (modernday Benin) before being scuttled near Mobile, Alabama, to hide the evidence. As for the slaves, most went to Meaher's…

Marie Antoinette in her own words bit.ly/MariePod119 When thinking of Marie Antoinette, you'd be forgiven if just two things came to mind: cake, and enormous wigs. This episode of the HistoryExtra podcast aims to correct that, as Professor Catriona Seth reveals the woman behind the myth. It goes a long way to humanise a queen often thought of in purely two-dimensional terms. You're Dead to Me: the early medieval papacy bit.ly/JennerPod119 Greg Jenner's history podcast continues to go from strength to strength. This episode, on the early medieval papacy, ably demonstrates why it's so popular, taking a seemingly niche topic and making it fun. Other recent instalments apply the same lively lens to subjects including Georgian courtship and South Asia's Indus civilisation. Overlooked LGBTQ+ histories bit.ly/OverlookedPod119 Charting the lives of…

Test your history knowledge to solve our prize puzzle – and you could win a fantastic new book ACROSS PrisonerpardonedbyRomangovernor Pontius Pilate (8) OthernamefortheKenya Land and Freedom Army, which resisted British colonialism (3,3) Victorianresorttowninnorth Wales (4) MayerAmschel17441812, German-Jewish financier and founder of a powerful banking dynasty (10) 1998historical comedy film (2,4) InternationalCommitteeofthe, organisation founded in 1863 (3,5) USabolitionistandwomens rights activist (1820-1906) (5,1,7) Englishwriterpoetand critic (1925-94), associated with The Movement (4,4) OneoftheApostlesof Jesus Christ; son of Jonah (6) Navalcraftsman10 JohnForbesJr19282015), US mathematician (4) AfricancountrydeclaredaMarxist-Leninist one-party Republic in 1975 (6) MajorcityoftheMali empire from the 14th century (8) DOWN ImperialcapitalofCharlemagne(c747-814 AD) (6) Johnd1381 English priest and leader of the Peasants’ Revolt (4) ScottishcitygrantedRoyalburgh status by King David I (C1082-1153)…

OFF THE RAILS 1895 As the Granville-Paris Express approached the French capital at around 4pm on 22 October 1895, its driver, determined to make up for time lost along the journey, increased the train's speed. But upon approaching Gare Montparnasse, handbrake failure led to it entering the terminus at 25-37 miles per hour. Ploughing into a buffer stop, the train derailed, careened across the concourse, and erupted through the station's façade. It was only upon hitting the pavement below that it was brought to an abrupt halt, as seen here. Just two passengers were injured, but a woman standing nearby was killed by falling masonry. The driver was sentenced to two, months in prison and fined 50 francs. Following the disaster, the railway company covered the cost of the victim's…

ROMAN GEMS RETRIEVED FROM ANCIENT DRAIN As many as 30 exquisitely carved stones – just a few millimetres in diameter –have been discovered at a site near Hadrian's Wall in Carlisle. Known as intaglios, they are believed to date from the late second eentmy to the third century AD, and were probably lost while their owners cleansed in a bathhouse near the most important fort along the Roman empire's northern frontier. Expert Frank Gieeco, who is leading the ongoing excavation, says the vegetable glue that was used to fasten such items to people's jewellery likely melted in the steamy bathhouse environment, meaning the stones became detached and were flushed away when the bathhouse was cleaned. Among the intaglios is an amethyst bearing a likeness of Venus, as well as a…

Q: Who were the Inca and when did they rule? A: The word ‘Inca means slightly different things to different people. In one sense, it refers to members of the original Inca tribe, which first emerged in the Andean highlands around the 13th century AD. This was led by a figure known as the Sapa Inca, or ‘unique Inca’, who ruled over a family of kinship groups made up of other Inca. However, the rule of the Sapa Inca grew to include other ethnic groups living around the city of Cuzco, the Inca capital, which consolidated to form the core of a vast empire covering territory in modern-day Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Argentina and Colombia. To the Inca, it was known as Tawantinsuyu, meaning the ‘Realm of the Four Parts’,…

VIRACOCHA Also known as Wiracocha or Con-Tici, Viracocha was worshipped as the god of creation; the universe, time and civilisation were the product of his hand. The story goes that Viracocha rose from Lake Titicaca before the planet had light and illuminated life on Earth through his creation of the Sun, the Moon and the stars. He pre-dated the dawn of the Incas, having been worshipped across the Andes before the empire was formed. Nevertheless, he was incoporated into the Inca belief system. INTI As the Sun god, Inti was the most celebrated deity of the Inca empire. Inca rulers were believed to be his descendants; indeed, one legend suggests that the first emperor, Manco Cápac, was his son. With such direct links, the human rulers were endowed with a…

In Our Time: The Inca bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0005t68 Melvyn Bragg (pictured) and guests, including Prof Bill Sillar, discuss how the people of Cuzco, in modern Peru, established an empire along the Andes down to the Pacific. Who found Machu Picchu? bbc.co.uk/programmes/b015cmrt Explorer Hugh Thomson investigates the story behind the discovery of the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru. Start the Week: What if the Incas had colonised Europe? bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000v891 Laurent Binet, Dr Caroline Dodds Pennock and Dr Christienna Fryar discuss counterfactual history and rethinking the past with Andrew Marr.…

IN PICTURES PHOTOGRAPHIC HOAXES FAIRY HUNTERS, 1917 When cousins Frances Griffiths (above) and Elsie Wright (opposite page and right) produced photos of themselves seemingly interacting with sprites, gnomes and fairies, they achieved overnight notoriety and sparked widespread debate. The validity of the photographs divided opinion for more than 60 years, until Elsie finally confessed to the hoax, in 1983: the fairies were, in fact, drawings secured in the ground and to branches with hatpins. GROW YOUR OWN, 1911 In what is surely every gardener's dream, two men struggle to squeeze a giant root vegetable through a cellar door. Despite their jaw-dropping size, these giant veggies were actually the work of photographer Alfred Stanley Johnson, who was known for adding oversized produce to staged photographs to create ‘tail-tale’ postcards that promoted Wisconsin's…

SHORT ANSWER Here's a clue: look at the initials and think romantic thoughts LONG ANSWER Silas Tomkyn Comberbache left his studies at Jesus College, Cambridge, in December 1793 and enlisted in the 15th (The King's) Light Dragoons. He was in debt and just been jilted by the woman he loved, so needed a change of scene. It didn't last too long, since he was discharged a few months later. If that name sounds made up, by the way, you'd be right: it was the fake name concocted by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), the budding Romantic poet. He kept the same initials, at least, but his poetry arguably left a more enduring legacy than his short-lived sobriquet.…

MUST SEE EXHIBITION Return of the Gods More than 100 items from the collection of Lancashire antiquarian Henry Blundell will be brought together for the first time in this new exhibition at Liverpool's World Museum, devoted to the deities of Greece and Rome. Packed with immersive displays, visitors will be able to discover the thrills and spills of the ancient myths, while getting the chance to marvel at two-metre-high statues of Zeus, Aphrodite and Athena. PAID ENTRY World Museum, Liverpool, 28 April 2023 - 25 February 2024, liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/world-museum EXHIBITION Pirates Co-produced with Royal Museums Greenwich, this swashbuckling new exhibition in Falmouth promises to be fun for all the family. Through interactive exhibits and displays of historic artefacts, visitors will be able to learn about the real history of piracy in…