Sumerian cuneiform is one of the earliest known forms of written expression. First appearing in the 4th millennium BC in what is now Iraq, it was dubbed cuneiform (‘wedge-shaped’) because of the distinctive wedge form of the letters, created by pressing a reed stylus into wet clay. Early Sumerian writings were essentially pictograms, which became simplified in the early and mid 3rd millennium BC to a series of strokes, along with a commensurate reduction in the number of discrete used (from c.1500 to 600). The script system had a very long life and was used by the Sumerians as well as numerous later groups – notably the Assyrians, Elamites, Akkadians and Hittites – for around three thousand years. Certain signs and phonetic standards live on in modern languages of Middle and Far East, but the writing system is essentially extinct. It was therefore cause for great excitement when the ‘code’ of ancient cuneiform was cracked by a group of English, French and German Assyriologists and philologists in the mid 19th century AD. This opened up a vital source of information about these ancient groups that could not have been obtained in any other way.

Cuneiform was used on monuments dedicated to heroic – and usually royal – individuals, but perhaps its most important function was that of record keeping. The palace-based society at Ur and other large urban centres was accompanied by a remarkably complex and multifaceted bureaucracy, which was run by professional administrators and a priestly class, all of whom were answerable to central control. Most of what we know about the way the culture was run and administered comes from the cuneiform tablets, which record the everyday running of the temple and palaces complexes in minute detail, as in the present case. The Barakat Gallery has secured the services of Professor Lambert (University of Birmingham), a renowned expert in the decipherment and translation of cuneiform, to examine and process the information on these tablets. The following is a transcription of his analysis of this tablet:

This tablet consists of 32 lines of Sumerian cuneiform on obverse, reverse and left edge. The tablet is very clearly written in a good scribal hand, and is in very good condition save that one corner has been rejoined, and there is a chip on the side. The tablet is an administrative document recording the issue of rations to official messengers to support them on their travels. It is dated to the second year of Ibbi-Sin, last king of the Third Dynasty of Ur, c. 2027 BC.

Translation:

30 sila of beer, 30 sila of bread: Abum-ili, city governor of Ishim-Shulgi. When he went for grain.

3 sila of beer, 2 sila of bread: Silli-Shulgi when he went from Der to the king.

3 sila of beer, 2 sila of bread: Shulgi-ili, king’s messenger when he went to Diniktum.

5 sila of beer, 5 sila of bread: Zuzu, king’s messenger when he went for ghee.

3 sila of beer, 2sila of bread: Shi-Erra, king’s messenger.

2 sila of beer, 2 sila of bread: Ur-Ninpirig, metal worker.

2 sila of beer, 2 sila of bread: Lu-Enkika, metal worker when they went for salalu-reeds.

5 sila of beer, 5 sila of bread: Akuni, king’s messenger.

3 sila of beer, 2 sila of bread: Lu-kalla, king’s messenger when they went to Anshebaran-zikum.

Disbursement of the month of Gisigga. Year: the high priestess of Inanna of Uruk was chosen by divination. Left edge: 12th day.

This is a so-called “messenger tablet”, but it differs from previously known tablets of this kind by often giving the purpose of these trips. This is new, and very interesting. Note here especially that a city governor has to travel officially to get some barley. One guesses that his city was in danger or running out as governor he personally had to travel to get supplies.