Sumerian Cuneiform Tablet, 2035 BCE
Clay
1.85 x 2.16
CT.009 IS LSO.601
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:
This is a tablet with 8 lines of Sumerian Cuneiform on obverse and reverse. It is an administrative document from the period of the Third Dynasty of Ur. dated to the third year of Shu-Sin, fourth king of the dynasty, c. 2035 BC. It is about 16 sheep that had gone missing somewhere, but it is not very explicit for us. They of course knew exactly what had been and was happening.
Translation:
Deficit: 16 sheep, sheep taken for the land registry.
Mashum, Murbaba?, and Ashki-bani were the supervisors.
Via Zuzu.
Month: Ezenadara.
Year: Simurrum was destroyed.
The scribe's cylinder seal was rolled on the upper reverse for the inscription, but it is too feint to read. All these things were taking place during the government's bureaucracy.
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:
This is a tablet with 8 lines of Sumerian Cuneiform on obverse and reverse. It is an administrative document from the period of the Third Dynasty of Ur. dated to the third year of Shu-Sin, fourth king of the dynasty, c. 2035 BC. It is about 16 sheep that had gone missing somewhere, but it is not very explicit for us. They of course knew exactly what had been and was happening.
Translation:
Deficit: 16 sheep, sheep taken for the land registry.
Mashum, Murbaba?, and Ashki-bani were the supervisors.
Via Zuzu.
Month: Ezenadara.
Year: Simurrum was destroyed.
The scribe's cylinder seal was rolled on the upper reverse for the inscription, but it is too feint to read. All these things were taking place during the government's bureaucracy.