Position in chronology
A fragment of a clay tablet with a cuneiform inscription, unearthed September 2014 at Bakr Awa, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: Wikimedia Commons file: File:A fragment of a clay tablet with a cuneiform inscription, unearthed September 2014 at Bakr Awa, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq.jpg. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AA_fragment_of_a_clay_tablet_with_a_cuneiform_inscription%2C_unearthed_September_2014_at_Bakr_Awa%2C_Sulaymaniyah%2C_Iraq.jpg. Description: A fragment of a clay tablet with a cuneiform inscription, unearthed in September 2014 at the ancient mound of Bakr Awa, Shahrizor Plain, Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq. The excavation was headed by Professor Peter Miglus of the Heidelberg U
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Transliteration
Scholarly note
Tablet image sourced from Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). No scholarly translation referenced in source metadata. Source description: A fragment of a clay tablet with a cuneiform inscription, unearthed in September 2014 at the ancient mound of Bakr Awa, Shahrizor Plain, Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq. The excavation was headed by Pr
Attribution
Image: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg) — Wikimedia Commons. source
Translation excerpted from Wikimedia Commons file: File:A fragment of a clay tablet with a cuneiform inscription, unearthed September 2014 at Bakr Awa, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq.jpg. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AA_fragment_of_a_clay_tablet_with_a_cuneiform_inscription%2C_unearthed_September_2014_at_Bakr_Awa%2C_Sulaymaniyah%2C_Iraq.jpg. Description: A fragment of a clay tablet with a cuneiform inscription, unearthed in September 2014 at the ancient mound of Bakr Awa, Shahrizor Plain, Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq. The excavation was headed by Professor Peter Miglus of the Heidelberg U.
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.
Marks the boundary between proto-writing and writing. We can see signs being used systematically — but not yet phonetically. The leap to recording speech itself comes a few centuries later.
The earliest historical document in human history. Before this, we have lists, accounts, and dedications. Here, for the first time, a ruler tells us what happened — with names, places, and consequences.