Position in chronology
CUSAS 01, 163
About this tablet
A proto-cuneiform administrative tablet from the Uruk period (roughly 3300–3000 BCE), recording quantities of livestock — specifically calves and cows — alongside other commodities whose names are too damaged or too archaic to read with certainty. These are among the very earliest written records in human history: small clay tablets used by temple or palace administrators to track animals and goods before a full writing system had developed. The impressed circles and wedges are not yet a language in the modern sense, but a notation system — counting things. The lower fragment appears to record a separate but related account, with a striking grid of circular impressions representing numbers.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet records at least 18 calves and cows in one entry, and 45 units of something in the next — the commodity name there is broken away. Several more entries follow, most too damaged to read. Near the bottom, a single unit of a dairy product called KISIM is noted, along with a small quantity (3 units of a larger measure), and one unit of something associated with the sun or a day and a milk product. The reverse or lower fragment preserves a neat grid of number impressions. Most of the middle section is lost.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1(N14) 8(N01) [= 18 units], calves (and) cows; 4(N14) 5(N01) [= 45 units], [...]; UB [...]; [...], [...]; [...], [...]; [...] 1(N01), KISIM~b; 3(N02); 1(N01) [?], day/sun [?] dairy product [?]
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Engine notes
read from photo5 uncertain terms ↓
- AMAR AB2 — Read as 'calves of cows'; AMAR = young animal/calf, AB2 = cow. The combination is standard in Uruk livestock texts but the precise age or category of animal is not specified.
- KISIM~b — A proto-cuneiform sign associated with dairy products — possibly a type of processed milk or butter. The '~b' variant distinguishes it from the base sign KISIM; exact product uncertain.
- U4 GA~b — U4 can mean 'sun/day/light/dried'; GA~b relates to milk or dairy. Together possibly 'sun-dried milk' or a specific milk product. Reading is tentative; the combination is attested in Uruk dairy contexts but meaning is debated.
- 3(N02) — N02 is a medium-order numerical sign. Its exact quantity relative to N01 depends on the counting system in use (sexagesimal, bisexagesimal, or capacity), which is uncertain without fuller context.
- UB# — Damaged sign, read with uncertainty (indicated by #). UB in proto-cuneiform contexts can denote a spatial or container term, but the reading here is tentative given the damage.
Reasoning ↓
The photograph shows two main fragments (plus smaller edge pieces) of a small, rounded clay tablet characteristic of the Uruk period proto-cuneiform corpus. The lower, larger fragment (obverse) shows clearly impressed circular/round numerals arranged in rows — consistent with N01 (small round) and N02 (slightly larger) impressions — and incised sign-groups in the upper register that are consistent with AMAR and AB2 as given in the transliteration. The museum accession number 'CUNES 52-20-006' is visible in ink on the right-side fragment, confirming identity. The upper fragment is too damaged and at an angle to read signs directly. The middle central fragment shows ruled lines (boxes) typical of Uruk administrative tablets, with wedge and curve impressions that roughly align with the transliterated signs, though individual signs are hard to confirm at this resolution. The numerical impressions on the lower fragment — rows of small round holes (N01) and slightly larger impressions (N02) with a few large rounds (N14) — agree well with the transliteration's numerical pattern (1(N14) 8(N01), 4(N14) 5(N01), etc.). The sign KISIM~b (a dairy-product logogram) and U4 GA~b cannot be individually verified at this resolution. The damaged/broken upper left corner explains the lacunae marked with [...] in lines 3–5. Overall, photo and transliteration are broadly consistent; specific sign readings in damaged areas cannot be confirmed from the photograph alone.
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · prompt 2026-05-12/v4-interpretation · May 14, 2026 · 2077 in / 957 out tokens
Transliteration
1(N14) 8(N01) , AMAR AB2 4(N14) 5(N01) , [...] UB# [...] [...] , [...] [...] , [...] [...] 1(N01) , KISIM~b 3(N02) 1(N01)# , U4# GA~b
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk III (ca. 3200-3000 BC)) — CUSAS 01, 163. 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 (P328730) — 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.
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.