Ancient Near East, Mesopotamia, Sumer, Neo-Sumerian Empire, Third Dynasty of Ur, dated to the seventh year of the reign of Amar-Sin, ca. 2039 BCE. A hand-built pottery tablet of rectangular form with convex faces and peripheries. The tablet contains roughly 13 or 14 lines of cuneiform script formed via impressing a sharpened reed or stick into the still-wet clay just prior to being placed inside of a kiln. Cuneiform tablets like this example provide scholars with insights as to how a structured writing system revolutionized the means of recording information pertaining to countless facets of life, such as worker payment as well as the transportation and distribution of building materials and agricultural goods. While not fully translated, this tablet contains accounting information for 7 laborers & barley distribution. Size: 1.625" W x 3.25" H (4.1 cm x 8.3 cm)
Provenance: private New York, New York, USA collection; ex-private Daryl Kulok collection, New York, New York, USA collection
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#173280
Condition
Abrasions and chips, with softening to some cuneiform characters, and light encrustations. Otherwise in great condition. Text is still relatively legible.