Sumerian Clay Tablet with Livestock Transaction

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Sumerian Clay Tablet with Livestock Transaction

Place of OriginIraq, Puzriš-Dagan (modern Drehem)

Date2042 BCE

Dimensions1 1/2 × 1 1/4 × 1/2 in. (3.8 × 3.1 × 1.2 cm)

MediumClay

ClassificationUtilitarian Objects

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number

1913.508

Not on View

Collections

Decorative Arts

Published References

Langdon, S., "Miscellanea Assyriaca," Babyloniaca, 7, 1922-1923, p. 77-78, no. 11.

Van der Meiroop, Marc, "Cuneiform Tablets from The Toledo Museum of Art," Revue d'Assyriologie, no. 1, 1985, p. 18, repr. p. 26. “Babyloniaca 07, 077 11 Artifact Entry.” (2001) 2024. Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI). August 15, 2024. https://cdli.ucla.edu/P104769. http://bdtns.filol.csic.es/catalogo_directo_new.php?numBDTS=003751 https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/epsd2/P104769

Label TextThis clay tablet, dating to the Ur III period (ca. 2100–2000 BC), served as an administrative record for livestock transactions. Written in Sumerian cuneiform, it lists cattle, sheep, and goats received by an official named Dungi-urmu. The text references a festival and bears the seal of Lu-Nannar. Tablets like this one were part of a sophisticated accounting system in Mesopotamian bureaucracies, ensuring detailed records of economic exchanges and temple distributions.