Sumerian Cuneiform Tablet, 2050 BCE - 2010 BCE
Clay
2.16 x 4.64
CT.007
Sumerian cuneiform is one of the earlies known forms of written expression. Firs appearing in the 4th millennium BC in wha is now Iraq, it was dubbed cuneifor (‘wedge-shaped’) because...
Sumerian cuneiform is one of the earlies known forms of written expression. Firs appearing in the 4th millennium BC in wha is now Iraq, it was dubbed cuneifor (‘wedge-shaped’) because of the distinctiv wedge form of the letters, created b pressing a reed stylus into wet clay. Earl Sumerian writings were essentiall pictograms, which became simplified in th early and mid 3rd millennium BC to a serie of strokes, along with a commensurat reduction in the number of discrete sign used (from c.1500 to 600). The scrip system had a very long life and was used b the Sumerians as well as numerous late groups – notably the Assyrians, Elamites,
Akkadians and Hittites – for around thre thousand years. Certain signs and phoneti standards live on in modern languages o the Middle and Far East, but the writin system is essentially extinct. It wa therefore cause for great excitement whe the ‘code’ of ancient cuneiform was cracke by a group of English, French and Germa Assyriologists and philologists in the mi 19th century AD. This opened up a vita source of information about these ancien groups that could not have been obtained i any other way.
Cuneiform was used on monument dedicated to heroic – and usually royal –
individuals, but perhaps its most importan function was that of record keeping. Th palace-based society at Ur and other larg urban centres was accompanied by remarkably complex and multifacete bureaucracy, which was run by professiona administrators and a priestly class, all o whom were answerable to central cour control. Most of what we know about th way the culture was run and administere comes from cuneiform tablets, which recor the everyday running of the temple an palace complexes in minute detail, as in th present case. The Barakat Gallery ha secured the services of Professor Lamber (University of Birmingham), a renowne expert in the decipherment and translatio of cuneiform, to examine and process th information on these tablets. The following i a transcription of his analysis of this tablet:
Clay Tablet, with 35 lines of Sumerian cuneiform on obverse and reverse, written in a bold, clear scribal hand, and, save for a few rubbed signs, in very good condition. It is an administrative document from the period of the Third Dynasty of Ur, but is not dated. No doubt it comes from c. 2050-2010 B.C. It is a list of fields allotted to workmen as their remuneration for services to the state.
Translation:
10 iku, released: 1 worker’s released subsistence field: Puzuzu.
10 iku, 1 worker’s subsistence field: ilushu-rabi.
Town: Malkum.
16 iku, Pappasi-ukki estate, 1 subsistence field for a worker: Ilum-ban
Town: Pappas.
10 iku, one worker’s subsistence field: Elak-nu’id.
10 iku, one worker;s subsistence field: Lalaku.
Estate: Samishar.
1 iku field Sha-natiti, 1 subsistence field for a worker: Bilil.
10 iku, one worker’s subsistence field: Turam-ili.
10 iku, one worker’s subsitence field, Adu’a.
Estate: Lugal-Su’en.
10 iku, estate Samishar: Hubanduduk, the …….man.
Total: 96 iku.
Total: 8 workers’ sustenance fields.
Released land for the soldiers: supervisor: Ishkun-Ea.
Land in Sumer had to be irrigated, and it then came at a premium. Thus the kings used such land as a means of paying those who served them. Each man would given a plot, off which he had to live, and on the occasions demanded, had to work for the king. Hence this document, It records the detail of the plots and the names of the men who held them.
The total here appears to 10 too high. The iku was a measure of land area, like ‘acre’.
Akkadians and Hittites – for around thre thousand years. Certain signs and phoneti standards live on in modern languages o the Middle and Far East, but the writin system is essentially extinct. It wa therefore cause for great excitement whe the ‘code’ of ancient cuneiform was cracke by a group of English, French and Germa Assyriologists and philologists in the mi 19th century AD. This opened up a vita source of information about these ancien groups that could not have been obtained i any other way.
Cuneiform was used on monument dedicated to heroic – and usually royal –
individuals, but perhaps its most importan function was that of record keeping. Th palace-based society at Ur and other larg urban centres was accompanied by remarkably complex and multifacete bureaucracy, which was run by professiona administrators and a priestly class, all o whom were answerable to central cour control. Most of what we know about th way the culture was run and administere comes from cuneiform tablets, which recor the everyday running of the temple an palace complexes in minute detail, as in th present case. The Barakat Gallery ha secured the services of Professor Lamber (University of Birmingham), a renowne expert in the decipherment and translatio of cuneiform, to examine and process th information on these tablets. The following i a transcription of his analysis of this tablet:
Clay Tablet, with 35 lines of Sumerian cuneiform on obverse and reverse, written in a bold, clear scribal hand, and, save for a few rubbed signs, in very good condition. It is an administrative document from the period of the Third Dynasty of Ur, but is not dated. No doubt it comes from c. 2050-2010 B.C. It is a list of fields allotted to workmen as their remuneration for services to the state.
Translation:
10 iku, released: 1 worker’s released subsistence field: Puzuzu.
10 iku, 1 worker’s subsistence field: ilushu-rabi.
Town: Malkum.
16 iku, Pappasi-ukki estate, 1 subsistence field for a worker: Ilum-ban
Town: Pappas.
10 iku, one worker’s subsistence field: Elak-nu’id.
10 iku, one worker;s subsistence field: Lalaku.
Estate: Samishar.
1 iku field Sha-natiti, 1 subsistence field for a worker: Bilil.
10 iku, one worker’s subsistence field: Turam-ili.
10 iku, one worker’s subsitence field, Adu’a.
Estate: Lugal-Su’en.
10 iku, estate Samishar: Hubanduduk, the …….man.
Total: 96 iku.
Total: 8 workers’ sustenance fields.
Released land for the soldiers: supervisor: Ishkun-Ea.
Land in Sumer had to be irrigated, and it then came at a premium. Thus the kings used such land as a means of paying those who served them. Each man would given a plot, off which he had to live, and on the occasions demanded, had to work for the king. Hence this document, It records the detail of the plots and the names of the men who held them.
The total here appears to 10 too high. The iku was a measure of land area, like ‘acre’.