MS 3885

~3100 BCE·Uruk Period·P006277

About this tablet

One of the earliest administrative records in human history, this small clay tablet from around 3200–3000 BCE — most likely from the city of Umma in southern Iraq — lists quantities of goods or commodities distributed to or associated with various institutions or categories, closing with a grand total. The signs are proto-cuneiform, the very beginning of writing, used by temple administrators to track economic activity before a fully readable script had developed. Each line pairs a numerical notation with a commodity or category sign, following the standard bookkeeping format of the Uruk period. The tablet survives in remarkably good condition and is now part of the Schøyen Collection in Oslo.

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

Written in modern English

This is an account of several commodity categories with their quantities: roughly 30 large units of jarred goods under the RAD category; 22 units of KITI; 3 units of a category whose signs remain uncertain; 2 units associated with the household or temple (E2); 8 units of RAD (subtotaled); 6 units of AB NUNUZ; and 5 units of LAGAR. The final line gives the grand total — a very large number — for the combined DUG/PAP/SU/RAD grouping. In short: a temple storeroom manager tallied up several batches of goods and wrote down the running total at the bottom.

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

Translation — our engine

Our engine

Low confidence

3(N14) [large units], DUG~a RAD~a 2(N14) 2(N01) [= 22], KITI 3(N01), ZATU795 LAM~b[?] 2(N01), E2~b PA~a 8(N01), RAD~a (totaled/grouped) 6(N01), AB~b NUNUZ~a1 5(N01), LAGAR~a — [Total:] 1(N34) 1(N14) 6(N01) [large sum], DUG~a PAP~a SU~a RAD~a

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

Transliteration

3(N14) , DUG~a RAD~a
2(N14) 2(N01) , KITI
3(N01) , ZATU795 LAM~b?
2(N01) , E2~b PA~a
8(N01) , RAD~a@g
6(N01) , AB~b NUNUZ~a1
5(N01) , LAGAR~a
,
1(N34) 1(N14) 6(N01) , DUG~a PAP~a SU~a RAD~a

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk III (ca. 3200-3000 BC)) — MS 3885. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: Schøyen Collection, Oslo, Norway (P006277) — 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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