Writing systems in South America?

Question

Which cultures in South America had writing systems before the arrival of the Europeans?

I may be a little misinformed, but unlike Meso America there were not many cultures in SA that relied on some form of writings.

I know about the Quipus of the Incas, and also know that many hieroglyphs, or at least drawings, have been found all around SA, but do they count as writing systems?

Maybe they had just simple systems that were quickly replaced by the Europeans by cultural and military pressure.

Please enlighten me on this subject.

Answer 1

This Wikipedia page has a nice overview on pre-columbian writing systems in mesoamerica. These are true writing systems, capable of representing spoken language. Some of them have been deciphered and translated.

Additionally, there are two other systems from outside mesoamerica, the Andean quipu and the Ojibwa wiigwaasabak, that may also represent writing systems, but ones that are dramatically different than any currently in use, and may be proto-writing rather than actual writing. Regrettably, not enough examples of either remain to adequately translate.

Answer 2

When you look across history, pretty much any society with enough trade to require bookeeping and stratified enough to support kings will have developed (or borrowed) some kind of writing.

The Advanced culture in Peru and the Andes in South America was too isolated from other such societies to borrow their systems, so what they came up with on their own was probably the world's most interesting (if not practical) writing system: Quipu, which consisted of strings colored and knotted strategically to communicate information (numeric certianly, but many argue much more).

The only other pre-columbian drawings in South America I'm aware of are the Nazca lines from southern Peru. They are rather odd, in that they cannot really be properly appreciated from ground level (although there were typically hills nearby from which they could be appreciated by their creators). There are a lot of theories about what they were for, but few of them include information storage, like you'd get with a proper writing system.

The reason for this being the only writing system known in South America is probably relatively simple: The Andean area contained South America's only real advanced civiliation (The Inca by Pizarro's time).