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Title

[Cuneiform Tablet] #12

Date

c. 2048 BCE

Object Name

Artifact/Antiquity

Description

The tablet is covered on both sides with lines of small cuneiform writing. It measures 1/2"h x 1-1/4"w x 1-1/2"d (actual). A fragmentary receipt that records a delivery from Selush-Dagan to a state representative. This tablet records modest amounts of various cattle transferred between the Ur III administration and the merchant (dam- gar ) Gudea, Adda-kala, a foreman of weavers (ugula uš-b ar), and Selluš-Dagan. The text wasrecorded in Šulgi 46 ii. Despite the fragmentary state of this tablet, the preservation of the personal names helps situate it in its original context. Both Adda-kala and OelluÒ-Dagan appear individually in a number of texts where they are delivering lambs for deities (Inanna and Nanna respectively) in Drehem. These two personal names appear together in at least two other texts where each is recorded giving a lamb into the possession of Nasa, the fattener of the king at Drehem for cultic purposes.

Date: The 46th year of Shulgi’s reign, 2nd month; c. 2048 BCE
Provenience: Drehem
Language: Sumerian
Transliteration: Obverse
1. [n] 5(diš) x x [...]
2. x-x [...]
3. [...] gu4 4(diš) udu 1(diš) .maš2. x
4. [x] .gu3.-de2-a x [...] x
5. [n] gu4 niga 4(diš) [...] x
6. [n] 1(diš) udu 1(diš) x
7. [a]-.kal.-la x [x]
8. [...] x [...]
Reverse
1. [...]
2. x x .ad.-da-.kal.-[la] ugula uš-bar
3. [zi]-.ga. .e-lu-uš-d-da-gan
(blank line )
4. .mu.-DU
5. iti ses-da-gu7
6. mu ki-maš-ki u3 hu-ur5-ti-ki ba-.hul.
Translation:
Obverse
1. … 5 …
2. …
3. … ox and 4 sheep and 1 goat …
4. … Gudea [14] …
5. … fat ox and 4 …
6. 1+ sheep and 1 …
7. Akalla [15]
8. …
Reverse
1. …
2. … Addakalla [16], foreman of weavers
3. lifted (i.e. credited) to the account of Selush-Dagan [17]
4. a delivery
5. (recorded in the accounting period of) the month of eating with bitters/salt
6. the year Kimash and Hurti were destroyed

[14] "the whose voice pours out"
[15] "strong seed"
[16] "strong father"
[17] This is a West Semitic deity name indicating a high level of interaction between the Mesopotamian heartland the periphery in modern day Syria.

The tablet was originally in the collection of Venice High School (1932-1997), but it does not correspond to any item on the original inventory list from 1988. Ink: #9

01/21/2011-05/26/2011 USC Archaeology Lab imaged for Inscriptifact

Catalog Number

AA73

School Site #

1341

School Name

LAUSD Art & Artifact Archive/Museum

Dimension Details

1/2"h x 1-1/4"w x 1-1/2"d (actual)

Material

Clay, baked

Related Publications

Michael Roaf, "Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East" (Fact on File Series, Oxfordshire, England: Andromeda Oxford Limited, 1996)