Position in chronology
Nik 1, 088
About this tablet
This is a small Early Dynastic administrative tablet from Girsu (ancient Ĝirsu, part of the state of Lagash), belonging to the Nikolski I archive now held in the State Hermitage Museum. It records the disbursement of copper implements — apparently sickle-blades or harvesting tools — used for the barley harvest: 62 in total, 44 of them fitted with wooden handles, issued to an official named Ur-igi-ama, an 'overseer,' with another man present as witness. Texts like this are part of the enormous body of Early Dynastic Lagash economic records (c. 2400 BCE) that tracked tools, grain, and labor moving through the temple-based administration.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
The tablet records that sixty-two copper šum-tools — most likely sickle blades used for reaping — were set aside for the barley harvest. Forty-four of them were issued already fitted with wooden handles. These tools went to a man named Ur-igi-ama, who held the title of overseer, with a witness named Sag-de present to confirm the transaction; an unnamed official of the administration made the actual handover.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine62 copper šum(-tools), for barley-harvesting (harvest/reaping). 44 allotted (ba), fitted with wood(en handles). To Ur-igi-ama — the overseer. Before Sag-de, he gave (them) to him.
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.
Transliteration
1(gesz2@c) 2(asz@c) szum uruda sze gurx(|SZE.KIN|)-gurx(|SZE.KIN|) 4(u@c) 4(asz@c) ba gesz du8-a ur-igi-ama-sze3 nu-banda3 igi sag5-de3 e-na-szum2
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — Nik 1, 088. This record has no stored scholarly English translation; the existence of published translations has not been checked; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation (P221857) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
Related tablets
Related sources
An early example of administrative writing from Uruk. Its fragmentary numerical entries and commodity signs document record-keeping during the formative period of writing.
A surviving administrative record of named people and livestock in the Ur III period. Together with other archives, such accounts reveal the work of managing animals, deliveries and institutional responsibility.