ATU 7, pl. 084, W 22102,5+

~3100 BCE·Uruk Period·P004527

Translation · reference

Experimental

Source: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P004527.

Why it matters

Transliteration

4(N14) , |GA2~a1xU4| KISAL~b1 KU6~a
2(N14) , KALAM~b TUR SAL KU6~a PAP~a
4(N01) , KU6~a SUKKAL TE
2(N01) , |GIxGISZ@t|
2(N01) , HI U4
3(N01)# [...] , [...]
5(N01) , TUR3~b
5(N01) , HI U4 GURUSZDA
2(N01) , GISZIMMAR~b1?
1(N01) [...] , [...]

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk III (ca. 3200-3000 BC)) — ATU 7, pl. 084, W 22102,5+. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: German Archaeological Institute, Berlin, Germany (on loan, University of Heidelberg); Royal Ontario Museum of Archaeology, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (cast) (P004527) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P004527..

Related tablets

Related sources

~3200 BCE

Proto-Cuneiform Account Tablet

One of the earliest specimens of human writing. Not literature, not law — accounting. The need to keep track of grain in a temple bureaucracy is what pushed marks-on-clay into a system that could one day carry epics.

~3500 BCE

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.

~2450 BCE

Stele of the Vultures

The earliest historical document in human history. Before this, we have lists, accounts, and dedications. Here, for the first time, a ruler tells us what happened — with names, places, and consequences.