Position in chronology
CUSAS 01, 163
About this tablet
This is a small proto-cuneiform administrative tablet from the Uruk period (roughly 3300–3000 BCE), one of the earliest forms of writing in human history. It records quantities of livestock — specifically calves born of cows — alongside entries that appear to relate to dairy products. Such tablets were created by temple or palace administrators in ancient Iraq to track animals and the goods derived from them, essentially the world's earliest bookkeeping. The surviving fragment is fragmentary but legible enough to confirm it belonged to a livestock and dairy-management archive.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Translation · reference
Low confidence18 calves (of) cows; 45 [...]; [UB ...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] 1, KISIM~b (dairy product / processed milk); 3(N02); 1, [sun-dried?] milk (U4 GA~b).
Source: engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-12/v4-interpretation)
Translation · AI engine
read from photo18 calves (of) cows; 45 [...]; [UB ...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] 1, KISIM~b (dairy product / processed milk); 3(N02); 1, [sun-dried?] milk (U4 GA~b).
5 uncertain terms ↓
- AMAR AB2 — Read as 'calves of cows'; AMAR = young animal/calf, AB2 = cow. The combination is standard in Uruk livestock texts but the precise age or category of animal is not specified.
- KISIM~b — A proto-cuneiform sign associated with dairy products — possibly a type of processed milk or butter. The '~b' variant distinguishes it from the base sign KISIM; exact product uncertain.
- U4 GA~b — U4 can mean 'sun/day/light/dried'; GA~b relates to milk or dairy. Together possibly 'sun-dried milk' or a specific milk product. Reading is tentative; the combination is attested in Uruk dairy contexts but meaning is debated.
- 3(N02) — N02 is a medium-order numerical sign. Its exact quantity relative to N01 depends on the counting system in use (sexagesimal, bisexagesimal, or capacity), which is uncertain without fuller context.
- UB# — Damaged sign, read with uncertainty (indicated by #). UB in proto-cuneiform contexts can denote a spatial or container term, but the reading here is tentative given the damage.
Reasoning ↓
The photograph shows two main fragments (plus smaller edge pieces) of a small, rounded clay tablet characteristic of the Uruk period proto-cuneiform corpus. The lower, larger fragment (obverse) shows clearly impressed circular/round numerals arranged in rows — consistent with N01 (small round) and N02 (slightly larger) impressions — and incised sign-groups in the upper register that are consistent with AMAR and AB2 as given in the transliteration. The museum accession number 'CUNES 52-20-006' is visible in ink on the right-side fragment, confirming identity. The upper fragment is too damaged and at an angle to read signs directly. The middle central fragment shows ruled lines (boxes) typical of Uruk administrative tablets, with wedge and curve impressions that roughly align with the transliterated signs, though individual signs are hard to confirm at this resolution. The numerical impressions on the lower fragment — rows of small round holes (N01) and slightly larger impressions (N02) with a few large rounds (N14) — agree well with the transliteration's numerical pattern (1(N14) 8(N01), 4(N14) 5(N01), etc.). The sign KISIM~b (a dairy-product logogram) and U4 GA~b cannot be individually verified at this resolution. The damaged/broken upper left corner explains the lacunae marked with [...] in lines 3–5. Overall, photo and transliteration are broadly consistent; specific sign readings in damaged areas cannot be confirmed from the photograph alone.
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · prompt 2026-05-12/v4-interpretation · May 14, 2026 · 2077 in / 957 out tokens
Why it matters
Transliteration
1(N14) 8(N01) , AMAR AB2 4(N14) 5(N01) , [...] UB# [...] [...] , [...] [...] , [...] [...] 1(N01) , KISIM~b 3(N02) 1(N01)# , U4# GA~b
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Uruk III (ca. 3200-3000 BC)) — CUSAS 01, 163. 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 (P328730) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-12/v4-interpretation).
Related tablets
Related sources
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.
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.
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.