Position in chronology
BIN 08, 087
About this tablet
An Early Dynastic palace account recording the movement of copper — a prestige metal in ancient Mesopotamia — through what appears to be a large institutional storeroom. Specific grades and quantities of copper, measured in minas (each roughly half a kilogram), are tallied as they leave the palace inventory. Unusually, the recipients include ušbar weavers — normally textile workers — now placed under the authority of the chief smith, suggesting either a redistribution of workshop labor or the issue of copper tools to a weaving unit. The closing word 'given' is the standard Early Dynastic docket confirming the transaction.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Two hundred eighty-six units of raw or scrap-grade copper and 110 minas of copper minas [further quantities recorded in lines now too damaged to read] were brought out from the rubble or dross pile. Two hundred fifty-one minas of copper were then issued from the palace to the weavers, who at this point fell under the authority of the overseer of the smiths. Issued.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine286 (units) of copper — ha-bu11-da [grade/type] 110 minas of copper [x] minas, [x] from [x] [x] [...] brought out from the dust/rubble: 251 minas of copper — weavers, issued from the palace; weavers under the overseer of the smiths — given.
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
4(gesz2@c) 4(u@c) 6(asz@c) uruda ha-bu11-da 2(gesz2@c) la2 1(u@c) uruda ma-na [x] ma-na [x] x-a-ta [x] x [...] sahar-ta e3-a 4(gesz2@c) 1(u@c) 1(asz@c) uruda ma-[na] usz-bar e2-gal-ta e3-a usz-bar ugula simug-ne szum2-ma
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — BIN 08, 087. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Nies Babylonian Collection, Yale Babylonian Collection, New Haven, Connecticut, USA (P221569) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-28/v6-glossary-aware).
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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.