Position in chronology
MS 4495
About this tablet
One of the earliest accounting records in human history, dating to the Uruk period (roughly 3200–3000 BCE) and possibly originating from Umma in southern Iraq. The tablet records large quantities of barley, tallied using the proto-cuneiform impressed-circle notation that preceded the wedge-shaped signs of later cuneiform. A second commodity or qualifier — abbreviated HI@g~a in the scholarly notation — appears alongside, and the final line seems to record a total or disbursement. These tiny clay tablets are the very first bureaucratic paperwork: institutional accountants in early Mesopotamian cities were tracking grain flows through a system of numerical notation before writing could record a single spoken word.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet records two separate tallies of barley — each running into very large quantities by the numerical system in use — alongside a second commodity or category marked separately. The reverse repeats or checks the same figures, and the final entry appears to give a combined total with a note that the grain was distributed or disbursed. The numbers themselves are too dependent on uncertain metrological conventions to convert into modern volumes with confidence, but the scale is clearly institutional, not domestic.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineFace (obverse): [Upper register:] 1(N46) 3(N20) 3(N05) 3(N42~a) 1(N25) — barley [Lower register:] 8(N20) 1(N05) 3(N42~a) — HI@g~a [+damaged sign] Reverse: [Upper register:] 1(N46)# 3(N20)# 3(N05)# 3(N42~a)# 1(N25)# — barley# [Middle register:] 8(N20) 1(N05) 3(N42~a) — HI@g~a [Lower/final register:] 2(N46) 1(N20)? 5(N05)? 1(N42~a)? 1(N25)# — [HI@g~a]# barley# [disbursed]
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
1(N46) 3(N20) 3(N05) 3(N42~a) 1(N25) , SZE~a 8(N20) 1(N05) 3(N42~a) , HI@g~a X 1(N46)# 3(N20)# 3(N05)# 3(N42~a)# 1(N25)# , SZE~a# 8(N20) 1(N05) 3(N42~a) , HI@g~a 2(N46) 1(N20)#? 5(N05)#? 1(N42~a)#? 1(N25)# , HI@g~a# SZE~a BA
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk III (ca. 3200-3000 BC)) — MS 4495. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Schøyen Collection, Oslo, Norway (P006298) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-18/v5-modern-rendering).
Related tablets
Related sources
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.