SUMERIAN TABLETS: BOOKS SANS PAPER

Before paper and books as we know them, tablets were used to record and transmit information. These tablets were usually made of clay and written on in cuneiform by scribes, who would use reed styluses. These five tablets, acquired from Edgar James Banks, come from several ancient Sumerian cities. For example, tablet 1 from Puzrish Dagan, documents an internal transfer of livestock to Nasa(g), the chief official of the Puzrish-Dagan central livestock agency, which was part of an extensive bureaucracy. Tablet 3, also from Puzrish Dagan, documents the arrival of new statues of the chief god and goddess and a withdrawal of sheep as offerings for a festival ritual. Tablet 2, from Umma, is a receipt for bread and other goods, as well as barley “rations”, which were paid as workers’ wages because coins hadn’t been invented. Tablet 5, likely from Puzrish-Dagan, is a receipt documenting the delivery of goats and lambs. Unlike the others, tablet 4, from Uruk, documents a common royal inscription found on tablets, bricks, and clay nails. It celebrates the building of a royal palace by King Sin Kashid, the king of Uruk. This tablet, along with other tablets, bricks, and clay nails would have been embedded in the walls of the palace during construction. As a collector of antique books and lover of history, I was impressed by the sophisticated record keeping and administration revealed by these several thousand year-old tablets.

Avinash Paul, Premedicine, Class of 2025

Collection of Cuneiform Tablets
Created Between 2100 BCE and 1900 BCE
Eberly Family Special Collections Library