Position in chronology
MS 2782/15
About this tablet
A small, heavily damaged administrative tablet from the Uruk period (roughly 3300–3000 BCE), probably from the city of Umma in southern Iraq. It records quantities of textile goods — wool, garments, and linen cloth — alongside a reference to a female worker or woman and a temple administrator. Tablets like this are among the very earliest written records in human history: bookkeeping entries made by temple officials tracking the distribution or storage of cloth and labor. The signs are proto-cuneiform, a pictographic predecessor to the later wedge-based cuneiform script.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Translation · reference
Low confidence[...] wool 1 garment 1 linen cloth 1 [...] 4 [...] [...] 2 linen cloths 1 [...] , 1 [female worker] [BAR] [...] GIR3 (foot/under?), temple administrator [...] [...] [...] X BAR? [...]
Source: engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-12/v4-interpretation)
Translation · AI engine
read from photo[...] wool 1 garment 1 linen cloth 1 [...] 4 [...] [...] 2 linen cloths 1 [...] , 1 [female worker] [BAR] [...] GIR3 (foot/under?), temple administrator [...] [...] [...] X BAR? [...]
8 uncertain terms ↓
- SIG2~b — Conventionally 'wool' in Uruk-period contexts, but the reading of this archaic sign variant is debated; it may refer to a processed wool product or fleece rather than raw wool.
- TUG2~a — Read as 'garment/cloth'; the ~a variant marks an early sign form. Generally accepted but context-dependent.
- GADA~a — Interpreted as 'linen cloth'; the proto-cuneiform sign for linen/flax-derived textile. Reading is broadly accepted but the precise textile type is uncertain.
- SAL# [BAR] — SAL is the sign for 'woman/female'; in ration-list context it likely denotes a female worker category. BAR is a partial/uncertain reading and may indicate 'outside,' 'half-ration,' or a different commodity marker. Both signs are damaged (#).
- GIR3~c# — Could be read as 'foot,' 'under (the authority of),' or as part of a personal or administrative title. Sign is damaged; reading is tentative.
- SANGA~a# — Rendered 'temple administrator'; the archaic ~a form is consistent with Early Dynastic/late Uruk palaeography. The precise administrative rank signified in this early period is not fully established.
- 4(N01)# / 1(N01)# — The # diacritic indicates the numeral impressions are partially damaged in the transliteration; counts may differ from what survives on the clay.
- BAR#? — Highly uncertain sign in the final line; could be BAR ('half,' 'outside,' or a dividing marker) or a different sign entirely. Reading flagged with both # (damaged) and ? (uncertain identification).
Reasoning ↓
Visual examination of the photo shows a small, roughly trapezoidal clay fragment photographed from multiple angles. The obverse (main face, upper centre image) displays clearly ruled case-lines dividing the surface into compartments — characteristic of Uruk-period administrative tablets. In the upper-left compartment I can make out a roughly circular impressed sign consistent with a round-stylus numeral (N01 or similar), and in the adjacent compartments sign shapes that could correspond to TUG2~a (garment) and GADA~a (linen). The middle-left area shows what appears to be a bisected oval sign, plausibly SAL or a related sign. The lower portion of the obverse is eroded and partially broken, making individual signs difficult to confirm. The reverse (lower image in the photo) shows faint incised lines and what may be two or three sign compartments, but surface wear renders them largely unreadable visually. The museum accession ink label 'ms 2782/15' is legible on the edge. Overall the photo broadly confirms the transliteration's structure (ruled cases, numeral impressions, textile-sign shapes), but the fragmentary and abraded state means I cannot independently verify the damaged or bracketed signs (#, [...]), particularly GIR3~c, SANGA~a, and the BAR readings at the bottom. The cross-check therefore shows general agreement in structure and the recognisable signs (numerals, SAL-type sign, cloth signs) but the damaged passages cannot be verified from the photo.
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · prompt 2026-05-12/v4-interpretation · May 14, 2026 · 2171 in / 1143 out tokens
Why it matters
Transliteration
[...] , SIG2~b 1(N01) , TUG2~a 1(N01)# , GADA~a 1(N01)# , [...] 4(N01)# [...] , [...] 2(N01) , GADA~a 1(N01) [...] , 1(N57) SAL# [BAR] [...] , GIR3~c# SANGA~a# [...] [...] , [...] X BAR#? [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk III (ca. 3200-3000 BC)) — MS 2782/15. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Schøyen Collection, Oslo, Norway (P006135) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-12/v4-interpretation).
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.