Position in chronology
CUSAS 01, 195
About this tablet
This is a very early administrative tablet from the Uruk period (roughly 3300–3000 BCE), one of the oldest forms of writing known anywhere in the world. It records quantities of foodstuffs and commodities — including consumable rations, a grain product, beer portions, and perhaps dairy — disbursed under the authority of a high official or institutional lord. The large circular and wedge-shaped impressions are proto-cuneiform numerals in different metrological systems whose exact values depend on the goods being counted. Because proto-cuneiform has not been fully 'deciphered' in the linguistic sense, many sign values remain provisional, making this tablet a fascinating and still partly opaque window into the very beginnings of written record-keeping.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
The surviving entries record several transactions or disbursements: 7 large units of something stored in a container, graded as low-quality; 5 units allocated for consumption; 1 large unit brought in by or for a high official, with a container; 1 large unit of a grain product (possibly a bread or cake) together with beer, listed as a portioned-out allocation; 5-and-2 large units of a tied or bound dairy commodity. Further entries involve a hand, a sky/divine marker, and egg-like or seed notation, but these lines are too damaged or too obscure to render with confidence. The last legible trace concerns a field or plot of land. Several lines are lost entirely.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[...] 7 large units, container/storehouse LAGAB water [quality-grade] SIG [...] , [...] 5 units, GU7 (consumed/disbursed for eating) 1 large unit, EN (lord/high official) brought, container 1 large unit (N22), GUG2 (grain-product?), beer, BAR (half/portion disbursed) 5 large units 2 large units (N22), DUR~a, GA~a (dairy product?) [...] , X X UR5~a, hand, AN, NUNUZ~c, ZATU788 [...] , [...] [...] field/plot [...]
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
[...] 7(N14) , GA2~a2 LAGAB~b A# SIG [...] , [...] 5(N01) , GU7 1(N14) , EN~a DU GA2~a1 1(N22) , GUG2 KASZ~a BAR 5(N14) 2(N22) , DUR~a GA~a [...] , X X UR5~a SZU AN NUNUZ~c ZATU788 [...] , [...] [...] GAN2# [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk III (ca. 3200-3000 BC)) — CUSAS 01, 195. 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 (P326288) — 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.