Position in chronology
AAICAB 1/2, pl. 140, 1971-349
About this tablet
This is a short list of barley allocations from the Old Akkadian period, around 2300–2200 BCE. The tablet's origin is unknown, and it is now in the Ashmolean Museum. It names about half a dozen men, including a chief carpenter and a leather-worker, and most of them are credited with 20 gur of grain, a large amount (several thousand litres) that probably counts as a field allotment or seasonal allocation rather than a daily ration. A farmer (engar) is named as the official responsible for the transaction. The tablet shows how a Sargonic-era estate kept track of grain owed to skilled craftsmen.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Barley allocations, 20 gur each, measured by the standard large gur: to Gala, the chief carpenter; to Ur-e, the leather-worker; to Inim-Utu; and to En-anne, who holds a post or title we can't identify. A second Gala, with the same title, is listed with no amount next to his name. Ad-kup-gal also gets 20 gur. The tablet notes that all of these men belong to Nu-ira, or possibly that they are men who did not 'come in'. The farmer in charge is the official who oversaw the transaction. The back of the tablet is blank.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineObverse 1. 20 gur of barley, (measured in) the gur-sag-gal₂ (unit): 2. Gala, the chief carpenter. 3. 20 (gur): Ur-e, the leather-worker; 4. 20 (gur): Inim-Utu; 5. 20 (gur): En-anne, the SIG15@v; 6. (no amount written) Gala, the SIG15@v; 7. 20 (gur): Ad-kup-gal. 8. They are men of Nu-ira (?). 9. The farmer is its commissioner. (Reverse: uninscribed)
Our translation engine — Opus 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Engine notes
read from photo7 uncertain terms ↓
- sag-gal2 — Literally 'big head'; used as a technical term for the primary or head ration allotment. Rendering as 'head-ration' is conventional but the precise administrative meaning varies by context.
- gala — A cultic singer, often associated with lamentation rituals; sometimes left untranslated as 'gala-priest'. Gender and cultic role of the gala are subjects of ongoing scholarly discussion.
- SIG15@v — A logographic sign of disputed reading and meaning in this context; commonly interpreted as a quality or rank marker ('junior', 'lesser', or 'second-grade'). The '@v' indicates a variant form of the sign.
- lu2 nu-ir-a-me — Literally 'man who does not irrigate' or 'man of the irrigation (gang)'; the phrase is an occupational title whose precise meaning is uncertain. Some read it as referring to canal or ditch workers under a supervisor.
- engar maszkim-bi — 'engar' = farmer/agricultural official; 'maszkim' = overseer/commissioner. The phrase 'their overseer is the farmer' names the responsible supervising official. 'maszkim' can also mean 'bailiff' or 'deputy'.
- ad-kup4-gal — A personal name, literally something like 'great reed-cutter/mat-maker'; the element 'kup4' relates to reed-working but this is a name, not a professional title here.
- 2(u@c) — The '@c' indicates a curved (case) form of the numeral sign for 20 in the Akkadian period. Interpreted as 20 units (shekels of barley) per entry.
Reasoning ↓
The photograph shows a small, well-preserved pillow-shaped tablet with clear horizontal rulings and neat cuneiform wedges on the obverse. The clay surface is intact with only minor surface cracking visible on the lower edge and the reverse (which appears blank). The museum number '6+E 1761' (likely a shelf/tray label, corresponding to Ashm 1971-0349) is visible in ink on the upper edge. On the obverse, the repeated numeral signs at the left of each line are clearly legible and consistent with the '2(u@c)' (= 20) readings in the transliteration. Personal names in lines 3–5 (Ur-e'a, Inim-Utu, En-anne'e) are discernible as multi-sign sequences, though precise sign-by-sign verification is difficult at this resolution. The SIG15@v sign (conventionally read as a marker for 'junior' rank or grade) appears at the right edges of lines 4–5 and partially on line 6; the broken quantity in line 6 is consistent with the empty parentheses in the transliteration. The final two lines with 'lu2 nu-ir-a-me' and 'engar maszkim-bi' are legible as distinct sign groups. The photo and transliteration are in broad agreement; the main uncertainty is the interpretation of SIG15@v and 'lu2 nu-ir-a-me', which is an Akkadian occupational term whose exact rendering ('man of the irrigation workers' or 'man who does not irrigate') is debated in the literature.
Generated by Claude Sonnet 4.6 · prompt 2026-05-12/v4-interpretation · May 12, 2026 · 3441 in / 1207 out tokens
Transliteration
2(u@c) sze gur sag-gal2 gala nagar-gal 2(u@c) ur-e2 aszgab 2(u@c) inim-utu 2(u@c) en-an-ne2 SIG15@v () gala SIG15@v 2(u@c) ad-kup4-gal lu2 nu-ir-a-me engar maszkim-bi
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — AAICAB 1/2, pl. 140, 1971-349. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK (P212430) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
Related tablets
Related sources
One of the earliest specimens of human writing. Not literature, not law — accounting. The need to keep track of grain in a temple bureaucracy is what pushed marks-on-clay into a system that could one day carry epics.
A window into the world's first total state. The Ur III administration tracked every animal, every worker, every shekel — for a population in the millions. The level of paperwork was not exceeded until the modern era.