Sumerian Terracotta Cuneiform Tablet

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 it’s 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 decipherment and translation of cuneiform, to examine and process the information on these tablets. His analysis is presented below.

Clay tablet, 49 x 44 mm, with 5 lines of Sumerian Cuneiform on obverse and reverse, also impressions of the scribe’s cylinder seal. An administrative document from the period of the Third Dynasty of Ur, dated only by month Ezen- abi, a month name not fixed to any of the 12 months. The tablet dates to c.2050-2020 BC.

Translation: 60 sila of bread: Ela-nu’id has received from Ur- mes. Month: Ezen-abi The seal impression shows a presentation scene: on the right sits a deity in horned tiara and long robe, holding up a small cup. Facing is a standing figure in a long robe, no doubt an introducing goddess, behind whom stood the ancient seal owner, but that part of the seal design is not preserved. A three-line inscription named the ancient owner, now to faint to read the whole, but the third line seems to read “scribe”. The whole surface of the tablet is rolled with the cylinder seal of the scribe, to prevent unauthorised documents getting into circulation. The tablet is generally in good condition.