Position in chronology
CUSAS 03, 1015
About this tablet
This is a small Ur III administrative voucher from the estate of Garšana in southern Iraq, roughly 2000 BCE, recording an issue of flour destined to be baked into 'thick bread' for a person named Ama-tahšatal, connected in some way with the city of Zabala. It was charged to the accounts of the official Šu-Kabta, a major figure at Garšana, and processed through the intermediary Iškur-illat under the oversight of the official Antalu. The tablet also carries a seal impression identifying Antalu as steward and self-declared 'servant' of Šu-Kabta, son of Naram-ili — the kind of routine bookkeeping that, multiplied by thousands of similar tablets, lets historians reconstruct the daily operations of a Sumerian royal estate.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This receipt records that 2 ban2 of fine flour and 1 ban2 of second-quality gu-flour were issued to be baked into thick bread, intended for Zabala and for a person named Ama-tahšatal. Antalu was the official responsible for overseeing the transaction. The flour was charged against Šu-Kabta's account and was drawn from the holdings of Iškur-illat before being disbursed. The transaction is dated to the month of the Ninazu festival, in the year 'the great barge was built.' The tablet also bears a seal identifying Šu-Kabta, a physician and son of Naram-ili, and naming Antalu the steward as his servant.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine2 ban2 fine flour, 1 ban2 second-quality gu-flour, for thick bread — at/for Zabala […], (for) Ama-tahšatal; Antalu (is) the responsible official (maškim). Expenditure account of Šu-Kabta, from Iškur-illat it was disbursed. Month: festival of Ninazu. Year: 'The great barge (magur-boat) was built.' (Seal legend:) Šu-Kabta, physician (a-zu), son of Naram-ili; Antalu, steward, is your servant.
Our translation engine — Sonnet 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
2(ban2) zi3# sig15 1(ban2) zi3-gu us2 ninda# gur4-ra#-[sze3] zabala4#[] ama# tah#-<isz>-sza-tal [an]-ta-lu2 maszkim zi-ga szu-kab-ta2 ki iszkur-illat-ta ba-zi iti ezem-nin-a-zu mu ma2-gur8-mah ba-dim2# szu-kab-ta2 a-zu dumu na-ra-am-i3-li2 an-ta-lu2 agrig ARAD2-zu
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — CUSAS 03, 1015. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: CUNES 48-12-016 (Department of Near Eastern Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA) — from Garšana (mod. uncertain) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P329423). 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.