Sumerian cuneiform is one of the earliest
known forms of written expression. First
appearing in the 4th millennium BC in what
is now Iraq, it was dubbed cuneiform
(‘wedge-shaped’) because of the distinctive
wedge form of the letters, created by
pressing a reed stylus into wet clay. Early
Sumerian writings were essentially
pictograms, which became simplified in the
early and mid 3rd millennium BC to a series
of strokes, along with a commensurate
reduction in the number of discrete signs
used (from c.1500 to 600). The script
system had a very long life and was used by
the Sumerians as well as numerous later
groups – notably the Assyrians, Elamites,
Akkadians and Hittites – for around three
thousand years. Certain signs and phonetic
standards live on in modern languages of
the Middle and Far East, but the writing
system is essentially extinct. It was
therefore cause for great excitement when
the ‘code’ of ancient cuneiform was cracked
by a group of English, French and German
Assyriologists and philologists in the mid
19th century AD. This opened up a vital
source of information about these ancient
groups that could not have been obtained in
any other way.
Cuneiform was used on monuments
dedicated to heroic – and usually royal –
individuals, but perhaps its most important
function was that of record keeping. The
palace-based society at Ur and other large
urban centres was accompanied by a
remarkably complex and multifaceted
bureaucracy, which was run by professional
administrators and a priestly class, all of
whom were answerable to central court
control. Most of what we know about the
way the culture was run and administered
comes from cuneiform tablets, which record
the everyday running of the temple and
palace complexes in minute detail, as in the
present case. The Barakat Gallery has
secured the services of Professor Lambert
(University of Birmingham), a renowned
expert in the decipherment and translation
of cuneiform, to examine and process the
information on these tablets. The following is
a transcription of his analysis of this tablet:
‘An administrative document from the period
of the Third Dynasty of Ur, dated to the
second year of Ibbi-Sin, last king of the
dynasty, c.2027 B.C. It gives a listing of
various kinds of baskets and their fillings.
The end in view is nowhere stated, but the
operation was on the king’s orders, so
obviously it was not just a routine matter.
The text is difficult with some rare and even
otherwise unknown terms, so not
everything can yet be translated.
Translation:
124 baskets: set aside with….goods by: 20
double baskets of 30 sila capacity each: filled
with….by: 50 double baskets of 30 sila
capacity each: filled with crushed onions by:
60 double baskets of 30 sila capacity each.
120 long baskets of 60 sila capacity each:
filled with shallots by. 6….set aside with
grass by: 275 fish baskets of 60 sila capacity
each: filled with mustard and….by: The
king’s offering. 10 baskets set aside with
goods by: 15 fish baskets of 60 sila capacity
each: filled with mustard and….by: 10
double baskets of 30 sila capacity each: filled
with shallots by: by Mr Ninmu.
Disbursement via the king. Month: the
Plough. Year: the high priestess of Inanna of
Uruk was chosen by divination.
A sila was a standard measure of capacity,
about ,85 of a litre. The double baskets were
of course for the backs of donkeys. Curiously
the subject of all the verbs (the official in
charge of the whole operation) is only
mentioned once: in the last line of the text
before the summary and the date. This is a
rare and curious document.’
