Position in chronology
BIN 08, 081
About this tablet
An Early Dynastic surveyor's account, written in the archaic numeral system in which each large round impression stands for 60. The entries record lengths — in ninda (roughly 6 m) and cubits — of what is most likely a canal, embankment or wall, broken down into stretches, each charged to a named foreman: an overseer, En-tar, Abba, Puni-du and others. The last three lines close the document with 'accounts' (nig₂-ka₉) reckoned against three more men, and two stretches are flagged as 'not filled', i.e. not yet completed. It is the plain bookkeeping of a public works project, more than four and a half thousand years old.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Measurement schedule: 420 ninda on the old reckoning; width 300; base length 420 less 2 cubits; a further 360 less 2 cubits, 1 span and a half. Then, section by section: 301 units under the foreman/overseer; 300 plus 2 cubits under En-tar; 121 ninda under KID; 180 less 1 unit under Abba; a broken entry for Gu-na; 60 plus 2 cubits under Puni-du. Two stretches of 120 each — E'a's and Ekur's(?) — are marked as not yet filled in. The closing accounts: 241 charged to Ur-KUŠ₂, 121 to Huni-…, and, on the reverse, 5 to NI-a.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine420 ninda — old (measure); 300 (ninda) — width; 420 less 2 cubits — the base; 360 less 2 cubits, 1 half-cubit and ½; 301 |GIŠ.BAD| — the foreman, the overseer (nu-banda); 300, 2 cubits — En-tar; 121 ninda — KID; 180 less 1 |GIŠ.BAD| — Abba; [...] ... — Gu-na; 60, 2 cubits — Puni-du; 120, [BAD] cubits — E'a: not filled; 120 BAD — Ekur(?): not filled; 241 — account of Ur-KUŠ₂; 121 — account of Huni-x; (reverse) 6 less 1 — account of NI-a.
Our translation engine — Opus 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
7(gesz2@t) nindax(DU) libir 5(gesz2@t) dagal 7(gesz2@t) la2 2(disz@t) kusz3 ur2 6(gesz2@t) la2 2(disz@t) kusz3 1(disz@t) szu-bad 1/2(disz) 5(gesz2@t) 1(disz@t) |GISZ.BAD| ugula nu-banda3 5(gesz2@t) 2(disz@t) kusz3 en-tar 2(gesz2@t) 1(disz@t) ninda KID 3(gesz2@t) la2 1(disz@t) |GISZ.BAD| ab-ba [...] x gu-na 1(gesz2@t) 2(disz@t) kusz3 pu3-ni-du10 2(gesz2@t)# BAD# kusz3 e2-a nu-si 2(gesz2@t) BAD e2-kur? nu-si 4(gesz2@t) 1(disz@t) nig2-ka9 ur-KUSZ2 2(gesz2@t) 1(disz@t) nig2-ka9 hu-ni-x () 6(disz@t) la2 1(disz@t) nig2-ka9 NI-a
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — BIN 08, 081. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Nies Babylonian Collection, Yale Babylonian Collection, New Haven, Connecticut, USA (P221564) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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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.