CUSAS 01, 219

~3100 BCE·Uruk Period·P006351

About this tablet

This is one of the earliest kinds of writing we have: a small bookkeeping tablet from southern Iraq, from around 3200–3000 BCE, written before cuneiform could spell out whole sentences. It lists six entries. Each has a numeral and a short group of signs, probably the names or job titles of people or offices getting a share. The signs include a fish and a courtyard, a star, and possibly a brewer's or aromatics sign next to a house. We don't know which city it comes from, and like most tablets of this age it is a bare list, not a readable message.

Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.

Written in modern English

A list of allocations. The first entry, 1 full unit plus 1 smaller unit, goes to the recipient written MUD-NA-BU, together with the "fish-courtyard" office. Next come 2 small units for AN-GIR, 3 for UB-ZI, 2 for NUNUZ-AMA, 1 for ŠIM-E (perhaps a "house of aromatics" or brewing unit) and 1 for a last recipient whose name starts with KI; the rest of that name is broken off. The back of the tablet is blank.

A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.

Translation — our engine

Our engine

Low confidence

Obverse 1. 1 [unit] and 1 [fractional unit]: MUD NA BU KU6 KISAL ("fish – courtyard") 2. 2 [fractional units]: AN GIR3@g 3. 3 [fractional units]: UB ZI 4. 2 [fractional units]: NUNUZ AMA 5. 1 [fractional unit]: ŠIM E2 6. 1 [fractional unit]: KI [...] Reverse (nothing inscribed)

Indicative reading — translated without a photograph. Generated from the transliteration alone, without examining the original. Read it as an accessible first taste, not as a verified catalogue entry.

Our translation engine — Opus 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.

Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.

Transliteration

1(N01) 1(N39~a) , MUD NA~a BU~a
KU6~a KISAL~b1
2(N39~a) , AN GIR3@g~b
3(N39~a) , UB ZI~a#
2(N39~a) , NUNUZ~a1 AMA~a
1(N39~a) , SZIM~a E2~b
1(N39~a)# , KI# [...]

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk III (ca. 3200-3000 BC)) — CUSAS 01, 219. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: Rare Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library, Ithaca, New York, USA (P006351) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).

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