Position in chronology
MS 1952/37
About this tablet
A small, rounded Early Dynastic tablet, probably from Umma in southern Iraq, dating to roughly 2800–2500 BCE. It appears to be a lexical or administrative list — the kind of text used both as a scribal exercise and as a working record — enumerating categories of goods, activities, or personnel that include fish, some designation repeated twice (NAM2 NAM2), a blade or dagger sign (GIR2), and references to a yoke (SZUDUN?), fire or fuel (NE), grain (SZE3), and a builder or mason (SZIDIM). The tablet is heavily worn and many sign readings remain tentative. It represents the very early phase of Sumerian writing, when cuneiform had not yet fully standardized and signs still carried multiple overlapping functions.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet records a short list of items or categories — fish (of some specific type or processing), a repeated designation possibly indicating 'fate' or a title, references to a blade or knife, a delivery or movement (DU) with sky or divine marker (AN), what may be a yoke twice over, fire and sunlight or a day-count, grain, a builder's foot or track, and a carrying/standing entry. The last few lines include a sign cluster too damaged or archaic to read confidently, ending with a 'mixed' or qualifying notation. Several lines are too broken or obscure to render with certainty.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. [fish (KU6~a)] TU~b 2. NAM2 NAM2 3. NAM2(?) GIR2~b 4. DU AN A 5. SZUDUN(?) RI 6. SZUDUN(?) GIR2~b 7. [X] A NI~b 8. NE~a U4 RA 9. NI~b RA 10. SZE3 BU~a 11. U4 SZIDIM GIR3@g~b[?] 12. IL GUB3~c [X] 13. [X] ZATU726~a(?) UR~a(?) NI~b DUR2(?) 14. HI A[?]
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
, KU6~a TU~b , NAM2 NAM2 , NAM2? GIR2~b , DU AN A , SZUDUN? RI , SZUDUN? GIR2~b , X A NI~b , NE~a U4 RA , NI~b RA , SZE3 BU~a , U4 SZIDIM GIR3@g~b#? , IL GUB3~c X , X ZATU726~a? UR~a? NI~b DUR2? , HI A#?
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED I-II (ca. 2900-2700 BC) ?) — MS 1952/37. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Schøyen Collection, Oslo, Norway (P006020) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-28/v6-glossary-aware).
Related tablets
Related sources
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.
The single most important literary discovery of the 19th century. It rewired the understanding of the Bible's literary context and proved that the Mesopotamian flood tradition is older. It is the oldest surviving epic poetry in human history.
The literary tradition is no longer anonymous from this point. Authorship — the idea that a specific human voice composes a specific work — enters the historical record with her.