Ancient Near East, Ur, dated to year 2 of King Amar-Suen of Ur III, 2046 to 2038 BCE. A fired clay biscuit tablet carved with a reed instrument when soft and then fired to preserve the text. It is an administrative tablet noting the issue of sheep; it records the disbursement of sheep and goats to the kitchen. Size: 1.25" W x 1.1" H (3.2 cm x 2.8 cm)

Many related tablets involving the same official Abba-shaga are known. 11 ewes, 6 lambs, 5 goats: Unfit for work (?). Disbursed by Abbashaga on day 3. Month VIII, year (named:) -King Amar-Suen destroyed Urbilum- (Total 22 animals recorded). 11 total lines of Sumerian cuneiform. These cuneiform tablets are some of the roughly 2 million known from this culture; of these, between 30,000 and 100,000 have been translated. Cuneiform tablets seem to have been used mainly as a way of tabulating economic concerns. Although it might be more romantic to imagine that these tablets discussed the doings of kings and gods, from a historical standpoint, it is much more interesting to learn about the daily transactions of humanity's first great urban center.

Provenance: Ex Chess Collection, New York City and then by descent to his son and then to Mr. S. Oron, E 87th Street, NYC.

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#119374

Complete and intact.