Position in chronology
CST 011
About this tablet
An accounting record of copper from the Sargonic (Old Akkadian) period, about 2300–2150 BCE. It lists several batches of 'crude' or unrefined copper connected with a land registrar. Each batch is weighed out by a named man and checked by a supervising official. At the end, a scribe hands the total over to the chief smith. The tablet shows how carefully metal was weighed and tracked as it passed from officials to the metalworkers who would refine and work it.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Copper account. Adda, son of Lugal-nigbire, weighed out 50 minas (less 7 shekels) of crude copper that belonged to the land registrar, with Amar-gir supervising. Another 18 minas or so of crude copper came in next, along with a partly broken entry of shekels (possibly of silver) involving A-edin the land registrar, with E-edine supervising. Dudu the chief smith weighed out a further 5 minas of the registrar's crude copper. The total came to 33 minas and 13 shekels of crude copper, which Dada the scribe weighed out to Dudu the chief smith. Dated year 5, month 9, day 7.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineObverse / Reverse (the sides are not marked in the transliteration) 1. 50 minas of copper minus 7 shekels, crude (nig2-sahar-ra) copper; 2. it is copper of the land registrar (sa12-du5). 3. Adda, son of Lugal-nigbire, weighed (it) out; 4. Amar-gir (was) its commissioner. 5. 20 minas minus 2(?) minas of crude copper; 6. [...] shekels, silver(?), A-edin, the land registrar [...]; 7. E-edine (was) its commissioner. 8. 5(?) minas of crude [copper(?)]: it is of the land registrar. 9. Dudu, the [chief] smith, weighed (it) out. 10. [Total]: 33 minas 13 shekels of crude copper. 11. Dada, the [scribe], 12. to Dudu, the chief smith, 13. weighed (it) out. 14. Year 5, month 9 (literally "10 minus 1"), day 7.
Our translation engine — Opus 5.5. 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.
Transliteration
5(u@c) uruda# ma-na la2 7(asz@c) gin2 nig2-sahar-ra uruda sa12-du5-ka-kam ad#-da dumu lugal-nig2-bir3-re-ka-ke4 e#-la2 amar-gir maszkim-bi 2(u) la2 2(disz)? ma-na nig2-sahar-ra [...] gin2 ku3 a-edin sa12-du5-[...] e2-edin-ne2 maszkim-bi 5(disz)? ma-na nig2-sahar-ra [uruda?] sa12#!-du5!-kam du-du simug#-[gal]-e# e-la2 [szunigin] 3(u) 3(disz) 1(u) 3(disz) gin2 uruda ma-na nig2-sahar-ra da-da dub#-[sar]-e du-du simug!-gal-ra e-na-la2 5(disz@t) mu 1(u) la2 1(disz@t) iti 7(disz@t) u4
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — CST 011. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: John Rylands Library, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK (P212936) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5-5 (2026-09-20/v8-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.