Position in chronology
CUSAS 03, 0242
About this tablet
A labor account from Garšana, a private estate town in southern Mesopotamia run by the general/physician Šu-Kabta and his wife Simat-Ištaran, dating to the reign of Šu-Sîn (c. 2030 BCE). It records ten fullers — laundrymen, not builders — pulled off their usual trade for a single day to haul hand-moulded mud bricks to a construction site, with eight paid the full daily rate and two at two-thirds. The seal impressed on it belongs to the scribe Ea-šar, who identifies himself as the servant of Šu-Kabta. Texts like this show how Ur III estate managers freely reassigned skilled workers to whatever job the building program demanded, and how meticulously each day of labor was costed.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Ten fullers were put on brick duty for one day: eight at the standard daily wage and two at two-thirds pay. Their job was to move hand-made mud bricks to the building site at the É-kimura. The labor was charged against the account of Puzur-Akum, in the month of kisiki-Ninazu, in the year named for the great ceremonial barge made for Enlil and Ninlil. The tablet is sealed by Ea-šar the scribe, who names himself the servant of Šu-Kabta the physician, son of Naram-ili.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine8 workmen at full wage, 2 workmen at 2/3 (wage) each — they are fullers; for [1] day stationed to deliver hand-moulded bricks, (for) the construction work of the É-[ki]mura. From Puzur-Akum it was expended. Month: kisiki-Ninazu. Year: "The magnificent barge was fashioned for Enlil and Ninlil." (Seal inscription) Šu-Kabta, physician, son of Naram-ili, the vizier(?), doorkeeper(?): Ea-šar, scribe, is your servant.
Our translation engine — Opus 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
8(disz) gurusz sag-tag 2(disz) gurusz a2 2/3(disz)-ta lu2 azlag2-me-esz2 u4 [1(disz)-sze3] sig4 szu dim2 szum2-mu-de3 gub-ba al-tar e2-[ki]-mu#-ra ki puzur4-a-ku-um-ta ba-zi iti ki-siki []nin-a-zu mu ma2-gur8-mah en-lil2 nin-lil2-ra mu-ne-dim2 szu-kab-ta2 a-zu dumu na-ra-am-i3-li2 sukkal i3-du8 e2-a-szar dub-sar ARAD2-zu
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — CUSAS 03, 0242. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Amar-Suen y8 — The great barge for Enlil and Ninlil was fashioned based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.
Attribution
Image: CUNES 48-02-020 (Department of Near Eastern Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA) — from Garšana (mod. uncertain) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P322422). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-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.