Position in chronology
MSVO 3, 76
About this tablet
This is a small proto-cuneiform administrative tablet from the Uruk period, one of the earliest forms of writing in human history, roughly the late fourth millennium BCE. It records quantities — here the numbers 2 and 6, marked by the deep round stylus-impressions visible in the photo — of barley and related goods, tied to titles such as 'lord' (EN) and 'temple administrator' (SANGA), and to the recurring institutional term 'the Land' (KALAM). Texts like this are not narrative at all; they are terse bookkeeping entries, the accounting backbone of an early Mesopotamian temple or palace household tracking grain disbursements to officials.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a fragmentary accounts tablet. One entry records '2' units, associated with a lord or high official, a šagan-official or vessel, barley, and something called SI (possibly 'horn'), followed by a notation involving 'the Land' — likely marking an institutional source or destination. The next section is broken. A later entry records '6' units of barley from 'the Land,' described as consumed or issued as rations, with a further notation ('BAR') whose exact meaning is unclear. Both entries close with a line naming 'great' temple administrators (SANGA), suggesting these officials oversaw or received the disbursement. The tablet breaks off before the final line, which is lost.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine(Case 1) [...] , [...] X (Case 2) 2(N14) , EN (lord/high official) — SZAGAN — SZE (barley) — SI (Case 3) , KALAM (the Land / institutional land) (Case 4) [...] , [...] (Case 5) , BAR(?) [...] (Case 6) , GAL (great) — SANGA — SANGA [...] (Case 7) 6(N14) , KALAM (the Land) — SZE (barley) — GU7 (consumed/rationed) — BAR (Case 8) , GAL (great) — SANGA — SANGA [...] (Case 9) , [...]
Our translation engine — Sonnet 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
[...] , [...] X 2(N14) , EN~a SZAGAN SZE~a SI , KALAM~b [...] , [...] , BAR#? [...] , GAL~a# SANGA~a# SANGA~a# [...] 6(N14) , KALAM~b SZE~a GU7 BAR , GAL~a SANGA~a# SANGA~a# [...] , [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk III (ca. 3200-3000 BC)) — MSVO 3, 76. 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: Land Berlin, Berlin, Germany (P005387) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
Related tablets
Related sources
An early example of administrative writing from Uruk. Its fragmentary numerical entries and commodity signs document record-keeping during the formative period of writing.
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