Position in chronology
ATU 5, pl. 077, W 9579,dv
About this tablet
This is one of the oldest written tablets in human history, dated to the late Uruk period (roughly 3200–3000 BCE) and excavated at ancient Uruk in southern Iraq. It is a livestock accounting record, tracking quantities of small cattle — sheep and goats — distributed or disbursed under named institutional categories. The signs are proto-cuneiform: not yet a full writing system but a numerical and pictographic notation used by temple administrators to manage animal herds. At roughly 5,000 years old, tablets like this one represent the very invention of writing, driven not by poetry or religion but by the practical needs of bureaucracy.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet records several consignments of small livestock. One entry logs roughly 122 animals of a type that appears to be female goats; another records around 49-plus animals identified as castrated male sheep, though part of that line is broken. A further entry of 41 animals is associated with specific institutional or personal categories (NIR, UKKIN, UTUA). The grand total line — 7 large units, 3 medium units, and 8 small units of sheep or small cattle — is marked as disbursed or distributed. The damaged sections make precise totals uncertain.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine2(N34) 2(N01) , NUN~b 1(N34) 2(N14) , [small cattle — female goat] 4(N14) [9(N01)] [...] , [...] [male castrated sheep] 4(N14) 1(N01) , NIR~b UKKIN~a UTUA~b 7(N34) 3(N14) 8(N01) , [sheep/small cattle] — disbursed
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 ↓
- N34, N14, N01 — These are proto-cuneiform numerical notation signs. N34 is a large round impression (= 10 in a 'bisexagesimal' or animal-counting system); N14 is a large oval impression (= 10 in some systems, or a fractional value in others); N01 is a small round impression (= 1). The exact metrological system for animal counts at Uruk in this period is still debated.
- NUN~b — A proto-cuneiform sign of uncertain reading and meaning in this context; may denote a commodity class, an official title, or a place designation. The '~b' indicates a specific graphic variant.
- UD5~a — Generally interpreted as 'she-goat' in proto-cuneiform zootechnic texts, but the reading is based on contextual parallelism, not a bilingual key.
- UDUNITA~c — Likely 'male sheep' or 'ram'; UDUNITA is the proto-cuneiform predecessor of later Sumerian udu-nita. The '~c' variant is a specific sign form.
- NIR~b UKKIN~a UTUA~b — These signs in sequence may denote an official's title, an institutional category, or a herd classification. Their precise Sumerian or administrative reading in the proto-cuneiform period remains uncertain.
- BA — In later Sumerian, ba means 'to distribute/allot.' In proto-cuneiform contexts it is interpreted as a disbursement notation, but this is an extrapolation from later usage rather than a deciphered reading.
Reasoning ↓
Visually examined the photograph (VAT 15007, W 9579,dv). The obverse (upper image) shows a roughly rectangular tablet divided by incised lines into compartments. Within the compartments I can see multiple large circular impressions (N34 = large round, sexagesimal 'ten' in later notation) and smaller circular impressions (N01 = small round = '1'), consistent with the transliteration's numerical notation. In the upper-right compartment a crossed-circle sign (consistent with an early form of a determinative or the sign UTUA~b / UKKIN~a) is clearly visible, matching the transliteration's row 4. Incised tally-marks (resembling the sign NUN~b or UDUNITA) are visible in the upper-left area. The reverse (lower image) shows a crossed-circle sign at top and additional round impressions below, consistent with the continuation of the account. Surface erosion and a crack through the middle of the obverse obscure several impressions; the '#' and '[...]' notations in the transliteration correctly reflect damaged passages I cannot fully resolve. The museum label 'VAT 15007 / 9579,dv' is legible in the photograph on the right edge, confirming the object identity. The N14 signs (larger, elongated oval impressions representing '10' in proto-cuneiform notation) are harder to distinguish clearly from N34 in the photo due to lighting and wear, introducing some uncertainty. Reading aligns broadly with the published ATU 5 transliteration; no significant discrepancies detected beyond expected photographic resolution limits.
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · prompt 2026-05-12/v4-interpretation · May 12, 2026 · 3496 in / 1138 out tokens
Transliteration
2(N34) 2(N01) , NUN~b 1(N34) 2(N14)# , UD5~a# 4(N14)# 9(N01)# [...] , [...] UDUNITA~c# 4(N14) 1(N01) , NIR~b UKKIN~a UTUA~b 7(N34) 3(N14) 8(N01)# , UDU~a BA
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk IV (ca. 3350-3200 BC)) — ATU 5, pl. 077, W 9579,dv. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin, Germany (P001369) — 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.
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.