CUSAS 01, 080

~3100 BCE·Uruk Period·P325740

About this tablet

A small clay tablet in proto-cuneiform — the earliest true writing system, from Uruk-period Mesopotamia around 3300–3000 BCE. It is an account of barley: several measured quantities, recorded in the archaic grain-capacity units, are set beside a handful of sign-groups naming the officials or institutional headings responsible (including the high title EN). Writing at this stage had no grammar to speak of — no verbs, no sentences, just quantity plus category plus person — so we can read the numbers with fair confidence but only guess at the names. The tablet is badly cracked and abraded, and part of the text is lost.

Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.

Written in modern English

This is a barley ledger. One entry lists a small quantity against the heading GI; the next line is broken, preserving only a string of headings — a lord (EN), DUR2, ZATU751, and ŠU. Then comes the largest entry, a substantial measure of barley, followed by a second numeral and a further list of headings: two occurrences of EN, then DUR2, ZATU751 and PA. A further, slightly smaller quantity of barley follows, and the account closes with one last numerical entry. Who these officials were, and whether the grain was being issued or taken in, the tablet does not say.

A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.

Translation — our engine

Our engine

Low confidence

Obverse 1(N01) 2(N39a) 1(N24) — GI [...] — EN~a, DUR2, ZATU751~a, ŠU [...] 5(N14) 2(N19) 5(N01) 2(N39a) 1(N24) — barley; 2(N57) ŠU; EN~a, EN~a, DUR2, ZATU751~a, PA~a 5(N14) 1(N01) 2(N39a) 1(N24) — barley (Reverse / final entry) 2(N19) 4(N04) (The numerical signs are given here in their archaic notation: N14, N19, N01, N39a, N24 and N04 are distinct units of the archaic grain-capacity system, and N57 belongs to a further numerical series. Several cases are broken away and cannot be read.)

Our translation engine — Opus 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(N01)# 2(N39~a)# 1(N24)# , GI
[...] , EN~a# DUR2# ZATU751~a# SZU [...]
5(N14) 2(N19) 5(N01) 2(N39~a) 1(N24) , SZE~a 2(N57) SZU EN~a EN~a DUR2 ZATU751~a PA~a
5(N14) 1(N01) 2(N39~a) 1(N24) , SZE~a
2(N19) 4(N04)

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk III (ca. 3200-3000 BC)) — CUSAS 01, 080. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: Department of Near Eastern Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA (P325740) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).

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