Position in chronology
CUSAS 01, 119
About this tablet
This is one of the earliest written documents in human history, dating to the Uruk period (roughly 3300–3000 BCE), when writing had only just been invented in what is now southern Iraq. It is an institutional accounting record — a tally of commodities (plants or fodder, bread rations, perhaps beer and storage vessels) moving into or out of a storehouse or temple building, tracked day by day. The tablet's reverse is completely blank clay, and the front is divided into ruled boxes, each pairing a numeral with a sign for the commodity being counted — the characteristic format of proto-cuneiform administrative bookkeeping. Because the signs are still largely pictographic at this stage, many readings remain uncertain, but the overall function as a ration or commodity ledger is clear.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
The tablet records a series of allocations or deliveries tracked over several days: 4 units of plant material (possibly fodder or herbs) at a ruin mound on a given day; 5 units of bread rations on another day; 2 units of fodder released from storage; 1 unit similarly released. A section is broken and lost. Then: 1 large unit of bread rations with fodder; 1 large unit assigned to a temple administrator alongside other goods whose nature is unclear. More entries follow: 2 units for a storehouse (under AN); 3 units of an implement or object; 1 unit allocated from a location, along with beer; 1 unit of AN for a storehouse; 1 more unit from a location, together with a jar or vessel. The middle section is too damaged to read.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine4 [units], plant(s)/fodder — ruin mound — day 5 [units], bread/ration — day [... NUN-day?] 2 [units], day — released/opened — plant(s)/fodder 1 [unit], day — released/opened [...], [...] 1 [large unit], bread/ration — day — plant(s)/fodder 1 [large unit], temple administrator — [X] — sea/AB — TUN3 [...], [...] 2 [units], storehouse — sky/AN 3 [units], SZITA (weapon/implement?) 1 [unit], TAK4 — place/from Beer 1 [unit], AN — storehouse 1 [unit], TAK4 — place/from Vessel/jar
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
4(N01) , U2~a DU6~b U4 5(N01) , GAR U4# |NUN~b.U4|? 2(N01) , U4 DU8~c U2~a 1(N01) , U4 DU8~c [...] , [...] 1(N14) , GAR U4 U2~a 1(N14) , SANGA~a# X AB~a TUN3~a [...] , [...] 2(N01) , E2~a AN 3(N01) , SZITA~a1 1(N01) , TAK4~a KI KASZ~a 1(N01) , AN E2~a 1(N01) , TAK4~a KI DUG~a
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk III (ca. 3200-3000 BC)) — CUSAS 01, 119. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Department of Near Eastern Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA (P325363) — 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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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.
Marks the boundary between proto-writing and writing. We can see signs being used systematically — but not yet phonetically. The leap to recording speech itself comes a few centuries later.
The earliest historical document in human history. Before this, we have lists, accounts, and dedications. Here, for the first time, a ruler tells us what happened — with names, places, and consequences.