4000 – 3100 BCE

Uruk Period

The birth of the city, the birth of writing.

Featured tablet

In the marshlands of southern Iraq, the world's first true cities rise. Uruk, the largest, may have held forty thousand souls. Around 3300 BCE, in its temple administration, accountants invent something new: marks pressed into clay to count things. Writing is born — not as poetry, but as bookkeeping.

Primary sources

Tablets from this period

1783 tablets dated to Uruk Period — showing 24 below; browse all 1783.

~3500 BCE·Uruk PeriodEditorial

Kish Tablet

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.

Writing & Literature

~3300 BCE·Uruk PeriodEditorial

AoF 30, 238,1

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk IV (ca. 3350-3200 BC)) — AoF 30, 238,1. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Writing & LiteratureEconomy

~3300 BCE·Uruk PeriodEditorial

ATU 5, pl. 003, W 6108

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk IV (ca. 3350-3200 BC)) — ATU 5, pl. 003, W 6108. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Writing & LiteratureEconomy

~3300 BCE·Uruk PeriodEditorial

ATU 5, pl. 010, W 6611

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk IV (ca. 3350-3200 BC)) — ATU 5, pl. 010, W 6611. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Writing & LiteratureEconomy

~3300 BCE·Uruk PeriodEditorial

ATU 5, pl. 013, W 6710,a

13 [units]: ZATU678, male workers (ERIM) 10 [units]: ZATU678, ZATU765 5 [units]: ZATU718? 5 [units]: women (SAL) 5 [units]: PAP~a 10 [units]: copper (URUDU)? Total: 48 [units]

Writing & LiteratureEconomy

~3300 BCE·Uruk PeriodEditorial

ATU 5, pl. 014, W 6738,a

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk IV (ca. 3350-3200 BC)) — ATU 5, pl. 014, W 6738,a. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Writing & LiteratureEconomy

~3300 BCE·Uruk PeriodEditorial

ATU 5, pl. 014, W 6738,b

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk IV (ca. 3350-3200 BC)) — ATU 5, pl. 014, W 6738,b. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Writing & LiteratureEconomy

~3300 BCE·Uruk PeriodEditorial

ATU 5, pl. 015, W 6748,b

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk IV (ca. 3350-3200 BC)) — ATU 5, pl. 015, W 6748,b. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Writing & LiteratureEconomy

~3300 BCE·Uruk PeriodEditorial

ATU 5, pl. 026, W 7227,a

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk IV (ca. 3350-3200 BC)) — ATU 5, pl. 026, W 7227,a. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Writing & LiteratureEconomy

~3300 BCE·Uruk PeriodEditorial

ATU 5, pl. 035, W 9123,b

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk IV (ca. 3350-3200 BC)) — ATU 5, pl. 035, W 9123,b. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Writing & LiteratureEconomy

~3300 BCE·Uruk PeriodEditorial

ATU 5, pl. 037, W 9123,w

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk IV (ca. 3350-3200 BC)) — ATU 5, pl. 037, W 9123,w. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Writing & LiteratureEconomy

~3300 BCE·Uruk PeriodEditorial

ATU 5, pl. 038, W 9123,ac

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk IV (ca. 3350-3200 BC)) — ATU 5, pl. 038, W 9123,ac. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Writing & LiteratureEconomy

~3300 BCE·Uruk PeriodEditorial

ATU 5, pl. 046, W 9206,c

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk IV (ca. 3350-3200 BC)) — ATU 5, pl. 046, W 9206,c. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Writing & LiteratureEconomy

~3300 BCE·Uruk PeriodEditorial

ATU 5, pl. 046, W 9206,e

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk IV (ca. 3350-3200 BC)) — ATU 5, pl. 046, W 9206,e. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Writing & LiteratureEconomy

~3300 BCE·Uruk PeriodEditorial

ATU 5, pl. 046, W 9206,g

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk IV (ca. 3350-3200 BC)) — ATU 5, pl. 046, W 9206,g. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Writing & LiteratureEconomy

~3300 BCE·Uruk PeriodEditorial

ATU 5, pl. 051, W 9312,f

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk IV (ca. 3350-3200 BC)) — ATU 5, pl. 051, W 9312,f. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Writing & LiteratureEconomy

~3300 BCE·Uruk PeriodEditorial

ATU 5, pl. 052, W 9312,l

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk IV (ca. 3350-3200 BC)) — ATU 5, pl. 052, W 9312,l. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Writing & LiteratureEconomy

~3300 BCE·Uruk PeriodEditorial

ATU 5, pl. 053, W 9335,a

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk IV (ca. 3350-3200 BC)) — ATU 5, pl. 053, W 9335,a. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Writing & LiteratureEconomy

~3300 BCE·Uruk PeriodEditorial

ATU 5, pl. 053, W 9335,d

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk IV (ca. 3350-3200 BC)) — ATU 5, pl. 053, W 9335,d. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Writing & LiteratureEconomy

~3300 BCE·Uruk PeriodEditorial

ATU 5, pl. 053, W 9335,e

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk IV (ca. 3350-3200 BC)) — ATU 5, pl. 053, W 9335,e. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Writing & LiteratureEconomy

~3300 BCE·Uruk PeriodEditorial

ATU 5, pl. 054, W 9335,i

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk IV (ca. 3350-3200 BC)) — ATU 5, pl. 054, W 9335,i. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Writing & LiteratureEconomy

~3300 BCE·Uruk PeriodEditorial

ATU 5, pl. 061, W 9578,q

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk IV (ca. 3350-3200 BC)) — ATU 5, pl. 061, W 9578,q. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Writing & LiteratureEconomy

~3300 BCE·Uruk PeriodEditorial

ATU 5, pl. 061, W 9579,a

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk IV (ca. 3350-3200 BC)) — ATU 5, pl. 061, W 9579,a. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Writing & LiteratureEconomy

~3300 BCE·Uruk PeriodEditorial

ATU 5, pl. 061, W 9579,c

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk IV (ca. 3350-3200 BC)) — ATU 5, pl. 061, W 9579,c. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Writing & LiteratureEconomy

See all 1783 tablets in Uruk Period