Position in chronology
MSVO 1, 109
About this tablet
This is one of the earliest administrative tablets in human history, dating to around 3100–2900 BCE and belonging to the proto-cuneiform tradition of the Uruk period, likely from the site of Jemdet Nasr in southern Iraq. It records quantities of different commodities — vessels of two types, sheep, fruit (probably apples or similar orchard produce), and other goods whose signs have not yet been fully deciphered — apparently associated with a named institution or official. The tablet is heavily fragmented, reassembled from multiple joining pieces, and many signs are damaged or lost. It is a piece of the very earliest bureaucratic record-keeping, written before cuneiform had developed phonetic values, when signs still functioned primarily as pictographic tallies.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This account lists various goods under what appears to be an institutional or personal heading: two different types of ceramic vessels (one each), a quantity of a commodity designated SZU2, several unread items, 3 units of something classified ME/ZATU753, 4 units of MA, 7 units of fruit (likely apples), 24 sheep, 3 large units of SUHUR, and 2 units of a further commodity. The final readable lines associate these goods with the institution or entity '|NI~a.RU|', note that something is 'new' or 'freshly processed' (GIBIL), and record consumption (GU7 — 'eaten/consumed') of 3 units. The last line, naming a person or institution, is too broken to read fully.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[4(N20)?] [...], [1(N03) 2(N40)], 1(N01)#, vessel type DUG~b 1(N01), vessel type DUG~c 1(N14), SZU2# [...], ZATU644~a 3(N01)#, ME~a ZATU753 4(N01)# [...], MA# 7(N01), apple(s)/fruit (HASZHUR#) [2(N14)#] 4(N01), sheep (UDU~a) 3(N14), SUHUR# 2(N52), |NI~a.RU| GIBIL SU~a 3(N57)# GU7# [...] [...], [personal/institutional name |ZATU714xHI@g~a|]
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
4(N20)# [...] , [1(N03) 2(N40)] , 1(N01)# , DUG~b 1(N01) , DUG~c 1(N14) , SZU2# [...] , ZATU644~a 3(N01)# , ME~a ZATU753 4(N01)# [...] , MA# 7(N01) , HASZHUR# 2(N14)# 4(N01) , UDU~a 3(N14) , SUHUR# 2(N52) , , |NI~a.RU| GIBIL SU~a 3(N57)# GU7# [...] [...] , [MU |ZATU714xHI@g~a|]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk III (ca. 3200-3000 BC)) — MSVO 1, 109. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK (P005176) — 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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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.