Position in chronology
MVN 03, 020
About this tablet
This small, rounded clay tablet is an Early Dynastic administrative record — a grain accounting list, probably from southern Mesopotamia around the mid-3rd millennium BCE. It tallies quantities of barley, measured in the standard gur-and-barig capacity system, matched against entries of storage jars (dug) and the names of individuals — Ur-šul, Ur-gu, Iri-ki-du10, Ur-e2, and Ur-ur — who apparently received or were responsible for these amounts. Tablets like this were routine bookkeeping in an early temple or household economy, and this one is unusually shaped, having been photographed from all sides (obverse, reverse, and edges) because its rounded 'pillow' form is itself a hallmark of the earliest Sumerian tablet types.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a barley accounting record. The opening lines are damaged, but they list an amount of grain — measured in gur and barig units — followed by an entry for storage jars. The document then runs through a series of paired entries: a quantity of barley or jars, alternating with a person's name. Ur-šul is credited with 1 gur 2 barig (roughly, though the number is partly broken); a batch of jars follows at 8 gur 2 barig. Ur-gu holds 1 gur 3 barig; another jar-entry follows at 10 gur less 1 barig. Iri-ki-du10 has 2 gur; jars again at 6 gur. Ur-e2 holds 2 gur 3 barig; jars once more at 5 gur less 1 barig. Finally, Ur-ur is recorded with 1 gur. In short: a running tally of grain quantities and their storage jars, assigned across several named individuals.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[x (x)] jars. [1(gur)?] 2(barig) barley, (in) gur-measure. 1(gur)? 2(barig): Ur-šul. 8(gur) 2(barig)?: jars. 1(gur) 3(barig): Ur-gu. 10 (gur) minus 1(barig): jars. 2(gur): Iri-ki-du10. 6(gur): jars. 2(gur) 3(barig): Ur-e2. 5(gur) minus 1(barig): jars. 1(gur): Ur-ur.
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
[x (x)] dug [1(asz@c)?] 2(barig@c)# sze# gur 1(asz@c)#? 2(barig@c) ur-szul 8(asz@c) 2(barig@c)#? dug 1(asz@c) 3(barig@c) ur-gu 1(u@c) la2 1(barig@c) dug 2(asz@c) iri-ki-du10 6(asz@c) dug 2(asz@c) 3(barig@c) ur-e2 5(asz@c) la2 1(barig@c) dug 1(asz@c) ur-ur
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — MVN 03, 020. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Free Library of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (P222201) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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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.