Position in chronology
MVN 05, 008
About this tablet
This is a small administrative receipt from Umma in southern Iraq, dating to the Ur III period (around 2000 BCE). It records a work assignment or allotment of malt-flour connected to a crew of female laborers over five days, overseen by a foreman and certified with the seal of the scribe Nabasa. Thousands of such tablets survive from Ur III Umma, forming a vast bureaucratic record of labor, rations, and goods moving through the state economy — this one is dated by a year-name commemorating the destruction of the city of Šašrum, likely during the reign of King Šu-Suen.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
A work crew of female laborers — the number is broken off — was assigned for five days, originating from the city of Umma. A man named Puzur-Iškur is recorded as carrying (delivering or transporting) a quantity of malt-flour. The operation was overseen by the foreman Ur-Nintu and certified under the seal of the scribe Nabasa. The document is dated to the sixth month, in the year that the city of Šašrum was destroyed. The tablet's seal identifies its author: Nabasa, scribe, son of Ugudu.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[x] female laborers, for 5 days, from Umma — Puzur-Iškur carries the malt-flour. Foreman: Ur-Nintu. Under seal of: Nabasa. Month: 'E-iti-6' (the 6th month), year: 'Šašrum was destroyed.' (Seal:) Nabasa, scribe, son of Ugudu.
Our translation engine — Sonnet 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
[x] geme2 u4 5(disz)-sze3 umma-ta puzur4-iszkur zi3-munu4 ib2-il2-e ugula ur-nin-tu kiszib3 na-ba-sa2 iti e2-iti-6(disz) mu sza-asz-szu2-ru-um ba-hul na-ba-sa2 dub-sar dumu ugu2-du6
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — MVN 05, 008. 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: Anonymous 114228 (private: anonymous, unlocated) — from Umma (mod. Tell Jokha) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P114228). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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