Position in chronology
Anonymous 270812
About this tablet
A small Early Dynastic grain-disbursement tablet, probably from Umma in southern Iraq, recording barley issued to eight named individuals from an institutional storehouse. The eight allocations — ranging from 1 to 2 gur per person — sum precisely to the stated total of 12 gur, a built-in arithmetic check typical of this scribal tradition. A short supplementary entry on the reverse records smaller quantities (in the sub-unit ban2) for two further recipients, one of whom — Lugal-he2 — does not appear in the main list. The names themselves are a small window into Early Dynastic society: some are built from cultic vocabulary (Ekur-nin, 'Lady of the Ekur temple'; Ab-zu-zu, invoking the sacred underground waters), while others reflect occupational identity (Ur-nagar, 'Servant of the carpenter').
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Eight people drew barley from what was probably a temple or palace storehouse. Abba received 1 gur; Ekur-nin and a second woman whose name is partially broken each received 2 gur; Ur-ganun and Ab-zu-zu each received 1 gur; Ur-nagar received 2 gur; U2-U2-a received 1 gur; and Pa4-pa4 received 2 gur — a confirmed running total of 12 gur of barley. On day one, one shekel was weighed out. The back of the tablet adds two smaller entries: U2-U2-a received a further 5 ban2, and Lugal-he2 received 4 ban2.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1 (gur) — Abba 2 (gur) — Ekur-nin 2 (gur) — [x]-nin 1 (gur) — Ur-ganun 1 (gur) — Ab-zu-zu 2 (gur) — Ur-nagar 1 (gur) — U2-U2-a 2 (gur) — Pa4-pa4 —— 12 gur of barley (total) Day 1: 1 shekel measured —— 5 ban2 — U2-U2-a 4 ban2 — Lugal-he2
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
1(asz@c) ab-ba 2(asz@c) e2-kur-nin 2(asz@c) x-nin 1(asz@c) ur-ganun 1(asz@c) ab-zu-zu 2(asz@c) ur-nagar 1(asz@c) U2-U2-a 2(asz@c) pa4-pa4 1(u@c) 2(asz@c) sze gur u4 1(asz@c) gin2 ag2 5(ban2@c) U2-U2-a 4(ban2@c) lugal-he2
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — Anonymous 270812. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: private: anonymous, unlocated (P270812) — 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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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.
Marks the boundary between proto-writing and writing. We can see signs being used systematically — but not yet phonetically. The leap to recording speech itself comes a few centuries later.
The earliest historical document in human history. Before this, we have lists, accounts, and dedications. Here, for the first time, a ruler tells us what happened — with names, places, and consequences.