Sumerian Cuneiform Tablet, 2028 BCE - 2027 BCE
Clay
7.16 x 7.44
CT.023
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...
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 signs 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 the 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 court control. Most of what we know about the way the culture was run and administered comes from cuneiform tablets, which record the everyday running of the temple and palace 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 is a large tablet, flat on the obverse, convex on the reverse, with five columns on each side. The tablet has been assembled from pieces and about a quarter of the surface is lost on the obverse, but very little on the reverse. The preserved script is beautifully written and excellently preserved. A total of 247 lines remain, not all complete. The text is an administrative document from the Third Dynasty of Ur, dated to the first or second year of Ibbi-Sin, last king of the dynasty, c. 2028-2027 B.C. It is a list of items of wood obtained or manufactured in a large economic organization, a temple or palace, during these years. The end of the first column has a date for the preceding material: the first year of the king. In the middle of column IV there is a second date: also the first year of the king, summing up the material from columns II, III and half of column IV. There is no other preserved date. At the very end of the last column there would have been the date of writing, but the last few lines are lost. A scribe’s name occurs about two-thirds of the way down column II, suggesting that a document incorporated in this tablet ended at that point, but it is not fully clear. Immediately following that entry are two short sections with indication that they are taken from tablets of the carpenter and smith respectively.
This is an extremely rare tablet for its content, perhaps without parallel. It’s purpose is not really clear. It is simply a records of the huge numbers of doors, beams, planks, etc. made during the period covered. Sumer did not have local supplies of wood: the palm was the only tree growing there in quantity, and that supplied little usable wood. But they obtained and used all kinds of wood from somewhere, for example fig-wood, pomegranate-wood, and others. There is quite an amount of repeated entries in content, so we translate the complete parts, or those with importance. Some of the words and signs are not yet understood. A further problem is the numbers used: the sign “l” can also mean “60”.
Translation:
Column I the end of a list summed up as:
Remainder.
Year: Ibbi-Sin, kin
Column II, lower part:
4 fig beams. 1 pomegranate beam.
16 Kiskattu beams.
Mr Shu-Mamma, scribe, from ……(..).
(.) doors of ….misir wood, sanded.
4 strips for hubs of chariot wheels.
8 strips for half chariot wheels.
From the tablet of the carpenter.
13 (?) ……of new ……wood.
From the tablet of the smith.
Total: 5 mes-trees.
Total: 3 ……. ……. Apple beams 1 2/3 cubits long.
Total: 1 thorn tree beam 3 cubits long.
(break of 2 lines).
Column III:
(Total): 2 dried apple beams of 6 cubits.
(Total): 12 dried apple beams of 5 cubits.
Total: 270 apple beams of 4 cubits.
Total: 293 dried apple beams of 3 cubits.
Total: 30 dried apple beams.
Total: 115 strips of dried apple 2 cubits each.
Total: 84 strips of dried apple 1 cubit each.
Total: 60 (or:1) pomegranate pieces.
Total: 16 kiskattu pieces.
(Total: 1)5 ……door-poles.
(Total: ….) …. Door-poles, of 11 cubits ……doors.
Column IV:
(Ten furtherlines of totals followed by):
What is available: from it:
(…..)….base of the door.
(….) …. Accounting of (the year): Ibbi-Sin, king.
(…) pine logs for making boats of 60 gur capacity.
4 pine logs for making boats of 50 gur capacity.
113 pine logs for making boats of 30 gur capacity.
7 pine logs.
10 apple (logs).
1 (or: 60) pomegranate logs.
2 sides of 5 (cubits each).
1 side of 4 (cubits).
3 sides of 4 cubits (each).
6 fig (….).
4 ….. door-poles.
Column VI:
1 door of misir-wood: 5 2/3 (cubits) long, 2 cubits wide.
2 doors of misir-pine-wood: 5 ½ cubits long, 2 1/3 cubits wide.
1 door of misir-pine-wood: 5 ½ cubits long, 2 cubits wide.
2 doors of misir-pine-wood: 4 2/3 cubits long, 1 2/3 cubits wide.
6 street doors: ½ a ninda long, 2 cubits wide.
3 streets doors: 5 cubits long, 2 cubits wide.
2 …..-house doors: 4 cubits long, 2 1/3 cubits wide.
Column VII:
11 bucket handles.
40 wooden ……..
2320 sickel handles.
151 cross-bars of ……….
Put to the account.
The craftsman held (?): the carpenter received.
To be put to the account:
Total: 4 mes-trees.
Total: 7 dried apple beams of 6 cubits each.
Total: 67 dried apple beams of 5 cubits each.
Total: 16 dried apple beams of 4 cubits each.
Total: 167 dried apple beams of 3 cubits each.
Total: 10 dried apple beams of 2 cubits each.
Total: 1 (or 60?) pomegranate pieces.
Total: 4 …… door-poles.
Total: 4 door-pole-ferrules.
Total: 7 …….. side-bars for doors.
Total: 3 ……. Door bases.
Total: 2 ……door bases.
Total: 2 ….. doors of misir-wood, sanded.
Total: 7 pine frames for boasts of 60 gur capacity.
Total: 4 pine frames of boats of 40 gur capacity.
Total: 93 pine frames of boats of 30 gur capacity.
(one line lost).
Column VIII:
(Total:……) planks of pine.
Total: 9 planks of pine, 3 cubits each.
Total: 1 (or: 60) logs of Oriental plane.
Total: 4 (or:240) trunks of palms.
Total: 2 (or:120) side pieces of 5 cubits each.
Total 1 (or: 60) side pieves of 4 cubits each.
Total: 2 (or: 120) side pieces of 2 ½ cubits each.
Total: 93 beams.
Total: 6 fig trunks.
Total: 8 strips for hubs of chariot wheels.
Total: 60 …………………… new ………..
Disburse
Deficit:
10 strips of dried apple: 2 cubits each.
(……..) of dried apple, 2 cubits each.
1 plank of pine.
Surplus:
1 plank of pine of 3 cubits.
Surplus-deficit:
1 mes tree.
3…..of a mes tree 1 5/6 cutits each.
1 thorn tree beam of 3 cubits.
2 …….. …… …….
1 …….. of 6 cubits.
173 dried apple beams of 6 cubits each.
Colum IX:
185 dried apple beams of 5 cubits each.
254 dried apple beams of 4 cubits each.
126 dried apple beams of 3 cubits each.
30 dried apple beams.
104 strips of dried apple of 2 cubits each.
84 strips of dried apple of I cubit each.
16 wooden…..
11 ……door-poles.
1 (or:60) ……door-poles of 11 cubits.
19 …….door-pole-ferrules.
1 (or 60) ….. of tamarisk of 5 cubits: it’s loading: 3 ½ cubits.
1 (or 60) ……of tamarisk of 4 ½ cubits: it’s loading 3 1/3.
1 (or 60) ……of tamarisk of 2 ½ cubits: it’s loading 3 ½ cubits.
1 (or 60) …… of tamarisk of (…) cubits.
1 (or 60) …. of big poplar.
5 strips of poplar.
1 (or 60) “slanderer” for a …… boat ……
Remainder:
Surplus: 7 side pieces for a …… door.
Surplus: 3 ….. door bases.
12 ……. door bases.
Column X:
(…..) accounts. (……) kept for the craftsman. (…….) …… foreman of the craftsmen.
(traces of 3 lines, and perhaps 5 lost)
The above is of course only the first attempt at a very difficult document, and with much more prolonged study no doubt much will become clearer. It is certainly a major new discovery in the realm of Sumerian cultural history.
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 court control. Most of what we know about the way the culture was run and administered comes from cuneiform tablets, which record the everyday running of the temple and palace 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 is a large tablet, flat on the obverse, convex on the reverse, with five columns on each side. The tablet has been assembled from pieces and about a quarter of the surface is lost on the obverse, but very little on the reverse. The preserved script is beautifully written and excellently preserved. A total of 247 lines remain, not all complete. The text is an administrative document from the Third Dynasty of Ur, dated to the first or second year of Ibbi-Sin, last king of the dynasty, c. 2028-2027 B.C. It is a list of items of wood obtained or manufactured in a large economic organization, a temple or palace, during these years. The end of the first column has a date for the preceding material: the first year of the king. In the middle of column IV there is a second date: also the first year of the king, summing up the material from columns II, III and half of column IV. There is no other preserved date. At the very end of the last column there would have been the date of writing, but the last few lines are lost. A scribe’s name occurs about two-thirds of the way down column II, suggesting that a document incorporated in this tablet ended at that point, but it is not fully clear. Immediately following that entry are two short sections with indication that they are taken from tablets of the carpenter and smith respectively.
This is an extremely rare tablet for its content, perhaps without parallel. It’s purpose is not really clear. It is simply a records of the huge numbers of doors, beams, planks, etc. made during the period covered. Sumer did not have local supplies of wood: the palm was the only tree growing there in quantity, and that supplied little usable wood. But they obtained and used all kinds of wood from somewhere, for example fig-wood, pomegranate-wood, and others. There is quite an amount of repeated entries in content, so we translate the complete parts, or those with importance. Some of the words and signs are not yet understood. A further problem is the numbers used: the sign “l” can also mean “60”.
Translation:
Column I the end of a list summed up as:
Remainder.
Year: Ibbi-Sin, kin
Column II, lower part:
4 fig beams. 1 pomegranate beam.
16 Kiskattu beams.
Mr Shu-Mamma, scribe, from ……(..).
(.) doors of ….misir wood, sanded.
4 strips for hubs of chariot wheels.
8 strips for half chariot wheels.
From the tablet of the carpenter.
13 (?) ……of new ……wood.
From the tablet of the smith.
Total: 5 mes-trees.
Total: 3 ……. ……. Apple beams 1 2/3 cubits long.
Total: 1 thorn tree beam 3 cubits long.
(break of 2 lines).
Column III:
(Total): 2 dried apple beams of 6 cubits.
(Total): 12 dried apple beams of 5 cubits.
Total: 270 apple beams of 4 cubits.
Total: 293 dried apple beams of 3 cubits.
Total: 30 dried apple beams.
Total: 115 strips of dried apple 2 cubits each.
Total: 84 strips of dried apple 1 cubit each.
Total: 60 (or:1) pomegranate pieces.
Total: 16 kiskattu pieces.
(Total: 1)5 ……door-poles.
(Total: ….) …. Door-poles, of 11 cubits ……doors.
Column IV:
(Ten furtherlines of totals followed by):
What is available: from it:
(…..)….base of the door.
(….) …. Accounting of (the year): Ibbi-Sin, king.
(…) pine logs for making boats of 60 gur capacity.
4 pine logs for making boats of 50 gur capacity.
113 pine logs for making boats of 30 gur capacity.
7 pine logs.
10 apple (logs).
1 (or: 60) pomegranate logs.
2 sides of 5 (cubits each).
1 side of 4 (cubits).
3 sides of 4 cubits (each).
6 fig (….).
4 ….. door-poles.
Column VI:
1 door of misir-wood: 5 2/3 (cubits) long, 2 cubits wide.
2 doors of misir-pine-wood: 5 ½ cubits long, 2 1/3 cubits wide.
1 door of misir-pine-wood: 5 ½ cubits long, 2 cubits wide.
2 doors of misir-pine-wood: 4 2/3 cubits long, 1 2/3 cubits wide.
6 street doors: ½ a ninda long, 2 cubits wide.
3 streets doors: 5 cubits long, 2 cubits wide.
2 …..-house doors: 4 cubits long, 2 1/3 cubits wide.
Column VII:
11 bucket handles.
40 wooden ……..
2320 sickel handles.
151 cross-bars of ……….
Put to the account.
The craftsman held (?): the carpenter received.
To be put to the account:
Total: 4 mes-trees.
Total: 7 dried apple beams of 6 cubits each.
Total: 67 dried apple beams of 5 cubits each.
Total: 16 dried apple beams of 4 cubits each.
Total: 167 dried apple beams of 3 cubits each.
Total: 10 dried apple beams of 2 cubits each.
Total: 1 (or 60?) pomegranate pieces.
Total: 4 …… door-poles.
Total: 4 door-pole-ferrules.
Total: 7 …….. side-bars for doors.
Total: 3 ……. Door bases.
Total: 2 ……door bases.
Total: 2 ….. doors of misir-wood, sanded.
Total: 7 pine frames for boasts of 60 gur capacity.
Total: 4 pine frames of boats of 40 gur capacity.
Total: 93 pine frames of boats of 30 gur capacity.
(one line lost).
Column VIII:
(Total:……) planks of pine.
Total: 9 planks of pine, 3 cubits each.
Total: 1 (or: 60) logs of Oriental plane.
Total: 4 (or:240) trunks of palms.
Total: 2 (or:120) side pieces of 5 cubits each.
Total 1 (or: 60) side pieves of 4 cubits each.
Total: 2 (or: 120) side pieces of 2 ½ cubits each.
Total: 93 beams.
Total: 6 fig trunks.
Total: 8 strips for hubs of chariot wheels.
Total: 60 …………………… new ………..
Disburse
Deficit:
10 strips of dried apple: 2 cubits each.
(……..) of dried apple, 2 cubits each.
1 plank of pine.
Surplus:
1 plank of pine of 3 cubits.
Surplus-deficit:
1 mes tree.
3…..of a mes tree 1 5/6 cutits each.
1 thorn tree beam of 3 cubits.
2 …….. …… …….
1 …….. of 6 cubits.
173 dried apple beams of 6 cubits each.
Colum IX:
185 dried apple beams of 5 cubits each.
254 dried apple beams of 4 cubits each.
126 dried apple beams of 3 cubits each.
30 dried apple beams.
104 strips of dried apple of 2 cubits each.
84 strips of dried apple of I cubit each.
16 wooden…..
11 ……door-poles.
1 (or:60) ……door-poles of 11 cubits.
19 …….door-pole-ferrules.
1 (or 60) ….. of tamarisk of 5 cubits: it’s loading: 3 ½ cubits.
1 (or 60) ……of tamarisk of 4 ½ cubits: it’s loading 3 1/3.
1 (or 60) ……of tamarisk of 2 ½ cubits: it’s loading 3 ½ cubits.
1 (or 60) …… of tamarisk of (…) cubits.
1 (or 60) …. of big poplar.
5 strips of poplar.
1 (or 60) “slanderer” for a …… boat ……
Remainder:
Surplus: 7 side pieces for a …… door.
Surplus: 3 ….. door bases.
12 ……. door bases.
Column X:
(…..) accounts. (……) kept for the craftsman. (…….) …… foreman of the craftsmen.
(traces of 3 lines, and perhaps 5 lost)
The above is of course only the first attempt at a very difficult document, and with much more prolonged study no doubt much will become clearer. It is certainly a major new discovery in the realm of Sumerian cultural history.