Clay tablets in mesopotamia

LATE URUK PERIOD, CIRCA 3100-3000 B.C.

The Tablet Collection of the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World is an independent unit of our museum under the curatorship of a faculty member in Cuneiform Studies. This position is currently held by Susanne Paulus, Associate Professor of Assyriology.

The above exhibit 4 represents an administrative document in the ancient Mesopotamia. This document is a form of delivery note of three items to different recipients in a temple for offerings. When the writing is deciphered it articulates that the exact quantities to be given. This Exhibit shows how the Mesopotamian people did write and scratch bookkeeping symbols on clay tablets thus starting the era of writing.

CLAY TABLET: The main writing material used by the scribes of early civilizations. Signs were impressed or inscribed on the soft clay, which was then dried in the sun. The ancient Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Hittites wrote on tablets made from water-cleaned clay. A common form was a thin quadrilateral tile about 12.5 cm (5 inches) long which, while still wet, was inscribed by a stylus with cuneiform characters. By writing on the surface in small characters, a scribe could copy a…

What's new in the old cradle of civilization!

Long before Hong Kong, Dubai and Tokyo, there was Uruk, which arguably contained the origins of urban life as we still know it today.

This Is Ancient on Instagram: "An ancient Clay tablet found in Uruk (Warka) southern Iraq, inscribed with Cuneiform script and 3 geometric circles containing astronomical calculations, dated to the ancient Babylonian period 2004-1595 BC. Iraqi museum, Babylonian Gallery. . #sumerian #cuneiform #ancient #thisisancient #mesopotamia #history #archeology #claytablet"

One of the Amarna Letters in cuneiform writing on a clay tablet. (known tablets total 382)