Position in chronology
MSVO 1, 216
About this tablet
This is a small proto-cuneiform account tablet from the Jemdet Nasr period (roughly 3100–2900 BCE), one of the earliest phases of writing anywhere in the world. It records a sequence of numbered entries — mostly quantities of barley, along with honey/syrup, water, and a few unclear categories — probably a household or institutional ledger tracking grain and commodity allocations to workers or officials. The exact transaction and the people involved cannot be recovered because many of the signs (personnel markers, processing terms, place designations) have no settled reading in this very early script.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This looks like a short bookkeeping tablet. It lists several entries, each starting with a number: one entry records barley credited to or received by a woman (possibly linked to a foreign land or district); another records barley along with some kind of processed good and an aromatic substance; another lists honey or syrup together with water and a note that may mean 'pure' or 'silver'; a further entry records a debt or loan-related quantity; a small unlabeled number follows; then an entry involving something placed at or near a well or cistern; another recording a 'remainder' of water; and a final entry of barley marked as consumed or issued as rations. In short, it's a tally of grain, sweetener, and water allocations, but the exact business being tracked — and several of the technical terms — are not fully recoverable today.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 2(N14), SAL.KUR(a) — barley — SZU (received/in hand of) 2. 2(N14) 4(N01), barley — KU(b1) — aromatic/szim 3. 3(N14), honey/syrup — PA(a) — water — silver/pure 4. 1(N20) 3(N05), UR5(a) 5. 3(N03), 6. 1(N01), GAR — PU2(?) 7. 2(N01), remainder — water 8. 1(N45) 4(N01), barley — consumed (GU7)
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
2(N14) , |SAL.KUR~a| SZE~a SZU 2(N14) 4(N01) , SZE~a KU~b1 SZIM~a 3(N14) , LAL2~a PA~a A KU3~a 1(N20) 3(N05) , UR5~a 3(N03) , 1(N01) , GAR PU2? 2(N01) , TAK4~a A 1(N45) 4(N01) , SZE~a GU7
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk III (ca. 3200-3000 BC)) — MSVO 1, 216. 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: Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK (P005283) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
Related tablets
Related sources
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