Position in chronology
MVN 05, 016
About this tablet
This is a routine Ur III administrative record from the city of Umma, tallying large quantities of reed — over two thousand bundles of 'good reed' and nearly fourteen hundred bundles of a second reed type, sorted into standardized bales — as they were delivered into a household storehouse. It names the supplier (Ur-mes), confirms receipt, and is dated by month and by a royal year-name commemorating the destruction of the mountain land of Simurrum, a recurring military target of the Ur III kings. Texts like this were the bookkeeping backbone of the Ur III state economy, where reed — used for construction, matting, baskets, and writing implements — was tracked with the same rigor as grain or silver. The closing note names the scribe, son of La'asa, who authorized or recorded the transaction.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet records a large shipment of reed: 2,247 bundles of good-quality reed and 1,392 bundles of a second type called a-ba-gal reed, both counted out in standard bales (11 bundles per bale for the first type, 19 for the second). The reed was delivered into the storehouse attached to the house of a man named Sagdana, along with an additional 12 units measured in 'gil.' The shipment came from Ur-mes, was authorized, and was formally received. The transaction is dated to the month of Ševsagkud, in the year Simurrum was destroyed for the ninth time — a year-name tied to a Ur III royal military campaign. The document closes with the scribe's authorization and identifies him as the son of La'asa.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine3(gešʼu) 7(geš2) 20 7 [= 2247] bundles of good reed, en-du8-du (reed) — its bales: 11 each. 2(gešʼu) 3(geš2) 10 2 [= 1392] bundles of a-ba-gal reed — its bales: 20 minus 1 (= 19) each. Into the storehouse of the house of Sagdana it was brought in. 12 gil(-bundles). From Ur-mes, by order, received. Month: Ševsagkud ("Grain-harvest"). Year: Simurrum was destroyed for the 9th time. By order — the scribe, son of La'asa.
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
3(gesz'u) 7(gesz2) 2(u) 7(disz) sa gi saga en-du8-du gu-nigin2-ba 1(u) 1(disz)-ta 2(gesz'u) 3(gesz2) 1(u) 2(disz) sa gi a-ba-gal gu-nigin2-ba 2(u) la2 1(disz)-ta ganun e2 sag-da-na ba-an-kux(KWU147) 1(u) 2(disz) gil ki ur-mes-ta bi2-du11-ga szu ba-ti iti sze-sag11-ku5 mu si-mu-ru-um a-ra2 1(u) la2 1(disz) ba-hul bi2-du11-ga dub-sar dumu la!-a!-sa6
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 05, 016. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Anonymous 114236 (private: anonymous, unlocated) — from Umma (mod. Tell Jokha) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P114236). 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.