MS 2446

~3100 BCE·Uruk Period·P006063

About this tablet

This is an accounting tablet from the very beginning of writing, the late Uruk period (around 3200–3000 BCE), possibly from the region of Umma in southern Iraq. It lists a small flock of sheep and goats: nanny goats, rams, kids and two categories we cannot yet identify. The tally comes to nine animals. The front lists six entries, most likely people or units, whose numbers also add up to nine. That suggests the scribe was recording who supplied or held each animal. The sign group URI3-IB appears on both sides and probably names the office or person responsible. Proto-cuneiform had no grammar, so the tablet is really a structured list of numbers and word-signs.

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

Written in modern English

The front lists six contributors or holders, perhaps named individuals: E2-DA 2, A-KAŠ 2, URI3-IB 1, MUD 1, KU-AN 1 and E2-SI 2, nine in all. A second column adds a heading or label that we can't fully read. It involves grain (ŠE) and water (A) signs and ends with URI3-IB. The back breaks the animals down by type: 2 nanny goats, 1 animal of a type called UTUA, 3 rams, 1 animal of a type called NUN and 2 kids. The total at the end is 9 small livestock, again credited to URI3-IB.

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

Translation — our engine

Our engine

Medium confidence

Obverse col. i 1. 2 (units): E2-DA 2. 2 (units): A-KAŠ 3. 1 (unit): URI3-IB 4. 1 (unit): MUD 5. 1 (unit): KU-AN 6. 2 (units): E2-SI col. ii 7. (heading/subscript, no numeral): LAGAB ZATU659 NAM2 RAD PA ŠE A — URI3-IB Reverse col. i 8. 2: nanny goats (UD5) 9. 1: UTUA (livestock of an unidentified category) 10. 3: rams (UDU-NITA) 11. 1: NUN (livestock of an unidentified category) 12. 2: kids (MAŠ2) col. ii (total) 13. 9: small livestock (UDU TUR), ZATU659 — URI3-IB

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

2(N01)# , E2~b DA~a
2(N01) , A KASZ~c
1(N01) , URI3~a IB~a
1(N01) , MUD
1(N01) , KU~b1 AN
2(N01) , E2~b SI
, LAGAB~a ZATU659 NAM2 RAD~a PA~a SZE~a A URI3~a IB~a
2(N01) , UD5~a
1(N01) , UTUA~a
3(N01) , UDUNITA~a
1(N01) , NUN~b
2(N01) , MASZ2
9(N01) , UDU~a TUR# ZATU659 URI3~a IB~a

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk III (ca. 3200-3000 BC)) — MS 2446. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: Schøyen Collection, Oslo, Norway (P006063) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).

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