Ancient accounting tool prefigures modern records in Peru
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In the Ancash region of Peru, officials recently showcased a historical exhibit detailing the evolution of property records over a thousand years.
The Zona Registral N.° VII, part of the Superintendencia Nacional de los Registros Públicos (Sunarp), presented the exhibit to mark Sunarp’s 32nd anniversary. The exhibit centers on the yupana Huaylas-Recuay, an ancient calculating tool used by pre-Inca cultures in the area to track and organize numerical values with items like seeds or stones.
The display demonstrates how Ancash developed foundational systems of record-keeping and social organization before the Inca Empire. Beyond the yupana, the exhibit features historical documents, deeds, titles, and records, that represent the legal origins of local communities, homes, schools, and churches. These records reveal how a formal registration system prevented century-long legal disputes. The exhibit connects this ancient mathematical knowledge to modern technology like QR codes and Sunarp’s digital platforms, highlighting how registration processes have become more accessible and transparent.
Officials noted that establishing legal certainty through registration not only ended long-running conflicts but also fostered social order and economic development in Ancash. Sunarp also honored the generations of public servants who have preserved these historical documents.
