Position in chronology
ATU 5, pl. 071, W 9579,cc
About this tablet
This is a small proto-cuneiform economic tablet from Uruk, dating to the very earliest phase of writing (roughly 3200 BCE). It is essentially a livestock tally: rows of numeral impressions paired with the sign for 'cow' (AB2) and 'ox' (GU4), each qualified by additional signs — some naming the city of Uruk itself, others still undeciphered (like the sign catalogued as ZATU639). Tablets like this were the bookkeeping tools of a temple or administrative household counting and allocating cattle, long before writing could record connected sentences.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a cattle count. The first entry records 2 head of cattle tied to several descriptive marks — one naming a herald and another an ox, plus two signs whose meaning is still unclear. The second entry lists 1 head of cattle with an unreadable qualifier, apparently marked as issued or allotted, but the line breaks off before we can see what follows. The third entry records 1 head of cattle associated with barley and with the city of Uruk. The fourth and final entry counts 4 head of cattle, again linked to an ox-sign, the same unidentified mark as before, and Uruk. Altogether it reads like a herder's or steward's tally of cows and oxen sorted by source or destination, with Uruk named as the relevant institution or place.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineObverse: 2(N01), AB2 NUN~a ZATU639 LAM~b NIMGIR GU4 (2 units: cow [qualified by] NUN~a, ZATU639, LAM~b, herald, ox) 1(N01), AB2 X BA# [...] (1 unit: cow [qualified by] the unread sign X; disbursed(?) — remainder broken) 1(N01), AB2 SZE~b UNUG~a (1 unit: cow [qualified by] barley, Uruk) 4(N01), AB2# GU4 ZATU639 UNUG~a (4 units: cow(?), ox, ZATU639, Uruk)
Our translation engine — Sonnet 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Engine notes
read from photo8 uncertain terms ↓
- ZATU639 — An uninterpreted proto-cuneiform sign; its semantic value is unknown. It may denote a quality, breed marker, or administrative category for the cattle.
- LAM~b — A variant of the LAM sign; meaning in this context unclear — possibly a quality or condition marker for livestock.
- NIMGIR — Possibly related to later Sumerian nimgir ('herald' or an official title), but in proto-cuneiform contexts the semantic value is uncertain; may be a personal name, title, or commodity qualifier.
- AB2 — Conventionally read as 'cow' in proto-cuneiform administrative texts; this is well-established but the exact referent (age, sex, breed) may vary.
- SZE~b — The SZE sign means 'barley' in later Sumerian, but in proto-cuneiform the combination AB2+SZE~b is uncertain — it may mean 'barley-fed cow', a cow ration record, or a breed designation.
- UNUG~a — Conventionally identified as the proto-cuneiform writing of Uruk (the city), but whether it here designates provenance, institutional ownership, or another category is unclear.
- NUN~a — The NUN sign is associated with 'prince/lord' in later Sumerian, but in proto-cuneiform livestock contexts its exact meaning is debated — may be a breed or quality marker.
- X BA# — The X indicates an unread sign in the transliteration; BA# is a damaged/uncertain reading. This entry cannot be interpreted.
Reasoning ↓
The photograph shows VAT 14933, a small lenticular/slightly rectangular clay tablet with clearly Uruk-period proto-cuneiform signs. The obverse (upper centre panel) shows numerical signs — two vertical strokes (2(N01)) and single strokes (1(N01)) are visible along the left edge, consistent with the transliteration's numerical notations. The sign group in the upper right of the obverse shows angular, bow-tie-like signs that could correspond to NIMGIR or GU4. The AB2 (cow) sign cluster is visible but worn in several places. The reverse (lower large panel) shows a row of approximately five to six diagonal wedges on the left, consistent with numerical notation, and a complex sign grouping on the right that is heavily eroded and cannot be read with confidence from this photograph. The left and right edge pieces show further worn signs, likely continuations of entries. The transliteration includes ZATU639, a sign not yet fully deciphered in the proto-cuneiform corpus, and LAM~b and NIMGIR, which are also contested in meaning. The photo resolution is insufficient to verify individual sign forms beyond broad correspondence with the transliteration. The museum number VAT 14933 is clearly legible on the edge label in the photograph.
Generated by Claude Sonnet 4.6 · prompt 2026-05-12/v4-interpretation · May 12, 2026 · 3460 in / 1053 out tokens
Transliteration
2(N01) , AB2 NUN~a ZATU639 LAM~b NIMGIR GU4 1(N01) , AB2 X BA# [...] 1(N01) , AB2 SZE~b UNUG~a 4(N01) , AB2# GU4 ZATU639 UNUG~a
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk IV (ca. 3350-3200 BC)) — ATU 5, pl. 071, W 9579,cc. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin, Germany (P001326) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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.
A window into the world's first total state. The Ur III administration tracked every animal, every worker, every shekel — for a population in the millions. The level of paperwork was not exceeded until the modern era.