Sumerian Clay Tablet Recording Animal Offerings

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Sumerian Clay Tablet Recording Animal Offerings

Place of OriginIraq, Puzriš-Dagan (modern Drehem)

Date2050 BCE

Dimensions1 1/4 × 1 × 1/2 in. (3.2 × 2.6 × 1.2 cm)

MediumClay

ClassificationUtilitarian Objects

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number

1913.504

Not on View

Collections

Decorative Arts

Published References

Langdon, S., "Miscellanea Assyriaca," Babyloniaca, 7, 1922-1923, p. 76, n0. 7.

Kang, S.T., Sumerian Economic texts from the Drehem Archive, Urbana, 1972, pp. 32-40.

Van der Meiroop, Marc, "Cuneiform Tablets from The Toledo Museum of Art," Revue d'Assyriologie, no. 1, 1985, pp. 18, 25, repr. p. 24. “Babyloniaca 07, 076 07 Artifact Entry.” (2001) 2024. Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI). August 15, 2024. https://cdli.ucla.edu/P104765. http://bdtns.filol.csic.es/catalogo_directo_new.php?numBDTS=003747 https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/epsd2/P104765

Label TextThis clay tablet, dating to the Ur III period (ca. 2100–2000 BC), was excavated at Puzriš-Dagan (modern Drehem, Iraq), an administrative hub of the Sumerian empire. Written in Sumerian cuneiform, the tablet lists animals given by various officials, including a sanga (priest), an en (high priest), and an ensi (governor). It is part of the extensive bureaucratic records from the reign of King Šulgi, a ruler known for his administrative reforms. The tablet also references a specific month ("Month of the eating of the zebu") and year ("the year Simurum and Lulubu were destroyed for the ninth time"), serving as a historical marker. Documents like this highlight the importance of accounting and record-keeping in early state economies.