Position in chronology
Lippmann Coll 291
About this tablet
This is a small personnel roster from Adab (modern Bismaya) dating to the Old Akkadian period, roughly the 23rd–22nd century BCE. It records named craft workers — leatherworkers and fullers (cloth-finishers) — grouped under two overseers, Ura and Burgul, closing with a note that these men are currently assigned to their posts. Tablets like this were the routine bookkeeping of a temple or palace workshop, tracking who was on the labor rolls and what trade they practiced.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet is a work-crew list. Under the foreman Ura, three men — Kada, A-geština, and Lugal-entarsu — are recorded as leatherworkers. Under the foreman Burgul, two more men — Kaku and Nadurum — are recorded as fullers, the craftsmen who finished and cleaned woven cloth. A closing line notes that all these men are on duty, present and accounted for on the workshop rolls.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1: Kada 1: A-geština 1: Lugal-entarsu [foreman]: Ura they are leatherworkers [1]: Kaku [1]: Nadurum foreman: Burgul they are fullers they are men in attendance / on duty
Our translation engine — Sonnet 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
1(asz@c) ka-da 1(asz@c) a-gesztin 1(asz@c) lugal-en8-tar-su3 [ugula] ur#-a2 aszgab#-me [1(asz@c)] ka-ku3 [1(asz@c)] na-du2-ru-um ugula bur-gul tug2-du8-me lu2 gub-ba-me
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — Lippmann Coll 291. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: CL 150 (Carl L. Lippmann Collection, Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, Spain) — from Adab (mod. Bismaya) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P472591). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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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.