Position in chronology
MSVO 1, 120
About this tablet
This is one of the earliest written documents in human history — a small clay tablet from the Jemdet Nasr period (roughly 3100–2900 BCE), now held at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. It records quantities of commodities — likely including grain products (GA'AR, a processed barley product), barley (SZE), and fish (KU6) — using the proto-cuneiform number signs typical of the early Uruk administrative tradition. Tablets like this were produced by temple or palace administrators tracking the movement of goods across households or institutions. Much of the text is broken, but what survives is a vivid fragment of the world's first bureaucracy.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
The tablet is heavily damaged and most entries are lost, but what survives records several quantities of goods. One unit of GA'AR (a processed grain product), one unit of what appears to be barley of a particular grade or quality, and a larger quantity — possibly ten or sixty units — of unspecified commodities. The final legible entry records fish, associated with the word DU, indicating delivery or movement. The rest of the tablet is too broken to read.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[...] , [...] [...] , [...] [...] , [...] X [...] , [...] 3(N03) , 1(N01) , GA'AR~a1 [...] , [...] 1(N05)# [...] , [...] 1(N06) , [...] [...] , X 1(N01) , SIG7? SZE~a 1(N05) , 1(N24) , , [...] , DU KU6~a
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 photo6 uncertain terms ↓
- GA'AR~a1 — A proto-cuneiform sign for a processed food product, often interpreted as a grain or dairy preparation (possibly dried/pressed grain cake or cheese-like product). The precise referent is debated.
- SIG7? — Tentatively read as SIG7 (a color qualifier: green, yellow, or fresh); the question mark in the transliteration signals the editor's own uncertainty. Could alternatively be a different qualifier sign.
- SZE~a — Standard proto-cuneiform sign for barley (Sumerian še). Reading is well-established but the combination with SIG7 is unusual and may indicate a quality or state of the barley.
- DU KU6~a — KU6~a is the standard sign for fish. DU here may be a verb ('to bring/deliver') or a qualifier; in proto-cuneiform contexts the grammatical function of accompanying signs is often unclear.
- N05, N06, N24 — These denote specific capacity or counting units in the proto-cuneiform numerical system. Their absolute values in modern measures remain debated and system-dependent (sexagesimal vs. bisexagesimal vs. area systems).
- X — Unidentified sign(s) in the transliteration; photo does not allow clarification.
Reasoning ↓
Visual examination: the obverse shows a roughly oval clay tablet, pale buff in color, broken at the lower left and upper left corners. The surface is partially eroded but several incised wedge-groups are visible. In the upper register I can make out what appear to be box-ruled columns consistent with proto-cuneiform administrative format. A distinctive circular/radiating impression in the mid-section is consistent with a complex sign (possibly GA'AR or a related commodity sign). Lower registers show angular impressed numerals and further sign-groups, but erosion and the photographic resolution prevent confident individual sign identification. The reverse (lower image, accession number 1928.444 visible in ink) appears blank or heavily abraded — no legible signs detected. The transliteration aligns with the physical appearance: a multi-entry administrative tablet with many broken sections. The numerical signs N01, N05, N06, N24 belong to the standard proto-cuneiform sexagesimal or bisexagesimal systems. SZE~a (barley) and KU6~a (fish) are among the most common commodity signs in Uruk/Jemdet Nasr period accounts. The qualifier SIG7 (green/fresh?) before SZE is uncertain and flagged accordingly. Cannot verify individual broken entries or the exact numeral classes from the photo alone.
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · prompt 2026-05-12/v4-interpretation · May 14, 2026 · 1852 in / 1029 out tokens
Transliteration
[...] , [...] [...] , [...] [...] , [...] X [...] , [...] 3(N03) , 1(N01) , GA'AR~a1 [...] , [...] 1(N05)#? [...] , [...] 1(N06) , [...] [...] , X 1(N01) , SIG7? SZE~a 1(N05) , 1(N24) , , [...] , DU KU6~a
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk III (ca. 3200-3000 BC)) — MSVO 1, 120. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK (P005187) — 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.