MS 3002

~3100 BCE·Uruk Period·P006256

About this tablet

One of the earliest surviving administrative tablets in human history, dating to the Uruk period (roughly 3300–3000 BCE), probably from the city of Umma in southern Iraq. It records allocations or rations of barley and other commodities — listed against personal names or institutional designations — followed by a grand total on the reverse. Tablets like this one are not literature or religion: they are the birth of writing itself, invented by Mesopotamian accountants to track who received what. The final line on the reverse with its large-value numerical sign appears to be a summation of the entries on the obverse.

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

Written in modern English

The obverse logs a series of commodity distributions: 24 units of barley go to AN and PIRIG; 14 units of MUD commodity to NUN; 14 units of LUM to MA; 31 units of DAR-type goods to PAP; 22 units of PAP-type goods to PIRIG; 14 units of a partially legible commodity to GAL and DU; 23 units of BU to DU; 32 units to SAL; and 40 units of SZAB. The reverse carries what appears to be the running total — a large quantity of barley labeled 'new' or 'fresh', associated with PAP and IB. The middle line is blank, marking the division between the individual entries and the summary.

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

Translation — our engine

Our engine

Low confidence

2(N14) 4(N01) [= 24 units], barley — AN, PIRIG~b1 1(N14) 4(N01) [= 14 units], MUD — NUN~a 1(N14) 4(N01) [= 14 units], LUM — MA 3(N14) 1(N01) [= 31 units], DAR~b — PAP~a 2(N14) 2(N01) [= 22 units], PAP~a — PIRIG~b1 1(N14) 4(N01) [= 14 units], KI[?] — GAL~a DU 2(N14) 3(N01) [= 23 units], BU~a[?] — DU 3(N14) 2(N01) [= 32 units], SAL 4(N14) [= 40 units], SZAB~a [blank / summary line] 2(N45) 3(N14) [large total], barley — GIBIL U4 — PAP~a IB~a

Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.

Transliteration

2(N14) 4(N01) , SZE~a AN PIRIG~b1
1(N14) 4(N01) , MUD NUN~a
1(N14) 4(N01) , LUM MA
3(N14) 1(N01) , DAR~b PAP~a
2(N14) 2(N01) , PAP~a PIRIG~b1
1(N14) 4(N01) , KI# GAL~a DU
2(N14) 3(N01) , BU~a# DU
3(N14) 2(N01) , SAL
4(N14) , SZAB~a
,
2(N45) 3(N14) , SZE~a GIBIL U4 PAP~a IB~a

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk III (ca. 3200-3000 BC)) — MS 3002. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: Schøyen Collection, Oslo, Norway (P006256) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-18/v5-modern-rendering).

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