The earliest form of a writing system found in the Incan Empire of South America prior to colonialism was the Quipu. Although writing system may not be fitting, it served as some sort of a "transmittal system." The quipu is colored strings made of wool and cotton which are joined in many different ways and knotted in order to communicate. Several South American societies were capable of reading it.
Upon the arrival of the Spanish in 1531, the conquistadors were suspicious of the quipu and burned most of them. To this day, only 300 quipu's remain.
As to what the Incans were communicating with each other about, archaeologists remain uncertain. They do know however that they were used for administrative purposes such as tracking tributes. They might also have been used as maps or legends to be told orally in the future. Little is still known about this fascinating system of communication.
Quipus were a tool used by the Inca empire to communicate some kinds of information throughout the Inca Empire. When they arrived in 1532, the Spanish conquistadors viewed the quipu with great suspicion. Thousands of quipus were destroyed in the 16th century. Today there are only roughly 300 quipus which were preserved or have been discovered since that time.
