Position in chronology
MSVO 3, 24
About this tablet
This is a large administrative tablet from the Uruk/Jemdet Nasr proto-literate period (roughly 3200–2900 BCE), one of the earliest phases of writing anywhere in the world. It records a series of numbered entries — quantities of goods or personnel tallied with the primitive circular and dot-shaped number impressions that predate true cuneiform wedges — alongside pictographic signs that likely name officials (a recurring 'herald' title, NIMGIR), commodities such as barley, aromatics, and plow equipment, and rationing terms. Because the script is still proto-cuneiform, individual sign readings and grammar are only partially recoverable; what survives is best understood as a bookkeeping record from an early temple or palace household in or near Uruk, tracking labor, disbursements, and stores.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet is an early accounting record, one of the oldest kinds of writing we have. Across thirteen entries it tallies quantities of goods, workers, or rations — noting officials called 'heralds,' a 'lord' or high official, barley, aromatic spices, a plow, and consumption or disbursement of stores, along with a measurement involving reeds and a field. The exact wording can't be turned into full sentences because the script is still pictographic and many sign-readings remain uncertain, but the overall picture is of a household or institutional ledger keeping track of who received what — people, produce, and equipment — under the supervision of named officials.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineObverse: 1. 1(N45) 6(N14) units — PAP (‘overseer/total-marker’), SZU (hand-sign), |GISZxSZU2| (compound sign, container/implement type) 2. 1(N45) 1(N14) 3(N01) units — NIMGIR (‘herald/crier’), |EZEN+KI| (festival-place compound) 3. 1(N45) 1(N14) 3(N01) units — NIMGIR (‘herald’), EN (‘lord/high official’), BIR3 (sign, function unclear) 4. 1(N45) unit — GI6 (‘black/night’), BU, NI (commodity or oil sign) 5. 6(N14) units — NIMGIR (‘herald’), SZITA1 (mace/weapon sign), DU6 (mound/heap sign) 6. 1(N45) unit — NIMGIR (‘herald’), BA (‘disbursed/allotted’) 7. 5(N14) units — E2 (‘house/estate’), DU (‘delivered/brought’ or ‘in transit’) 8. 3(N34) 1(N14) units — EN (‘lord/official’), SZIM (aromatic/spice sign) 9. 1(N34) unit — MAR (vessel/boat sign), APIN (‘plow’) 10. [no numeral recorded] — GU7 (‘consumed/rations’) 11. 6(N34) 1(N45) 1(N14) units — GU7 (‘consumed/rations’) 12. 4(N34) 2(N45) 2(N14) 3(N01) 3(N39a) units — GI (‘reed/measuring-rod’), GAN2 (‘field’) 13. 1(N48) 1(N34) 3(N14) 3(N01) 3(N39a) units — SZE (‘barley’), KU2 (‘to eat/consume’ sign), SZIM (‘aromatic’), GAL (‘large’), |1(N58).BAD| (compound numeral-sign notation)
Our translation engine — Sonnet 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(N45) 6(N14) , PAP~a SZU |GISZxSZU2~a| 1(N45) 1(N14) 3(N01) , NIMGIR |EZEN~a+KI| 1(N45) 1(N14) 3(N01) , NIMGIR EN~a BIR3~a 1(N45) , GI6 BU~b NI~a 6(N14) , NIMGIR SZITA~a1 DU6~a 1(N45) , NIMGIR BA 5(N14) , E2~b DU 3(N34) 1(N14) , EN~a SZIM~a 1(N34) , MAR~a APIN~a , GU7 6(N34) 1(N45) 1(N14) , GU7 4(N34) 2(N45) 2(N14) 3(N01) 3(N39~a) , GI GAN2 1(N48) 1(N34) 3(N14) 3(N01) 3(N39~a) , SZE~a KU~b2 SZIM~a GAL~a |1(N58).BAD~a|
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk III (ca. 3200-3000 BC)) — MSVO 3, 24. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Land Berlin, Berlin, Germany (P005335) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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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.