Description:

Ancient Near East, Late Ur III period, ca. late 3rd millennium BCE. Part of a cuneiform terracotta "biscuit" envelope, translated. The full translation will accompany the item, but in summary, this is an administrative tablet. As Sumerian agriculture grew, farmers and traders realized they needed a recording system to track the movement of animals and goods. This led to the development of the first known writing system, cuneiform. The writing style - at first pictographic but later more abstract - was used on square clay tablets used mainly to record agricultural transactions. Size: 1.75" W x 1.8" H (4.4 cm x 4.6 cm)

Provenance: private Texas, USA collection

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#125186

  • Condition: Piece is a fragment as shown. The back does not have any writing on it and has the remains of some adhesive from what appears to be an earlier mount.

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July 11, 2017 8:00 AM MDT
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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