Introduction

The texts presented in the following were edited as part of a student workshop held at the former Carsten Niebuhr Section of the University of Copenhagen in 2010-11 and supervised by Gojko Barjamovic. This small group of texts consists of two Old Akkadian administrative tablets presented for sale by the Danish auction house Bruun Rasmussen Kunstauktioner A/S in February 2011 (lot no. 1102-1623).

Not much can be said about their origin. According to information provided by the auctioneer, the owner purchased the tablets on the German antiquities market in the 1960s. The identity of the owner was not disclosed to the present authors, and information received from the auctioneer subsequent to our inspection of the tablets suggested that a satisfactory bid for the tablets could not be obtained. To our knowledge, the tablets were withdrawn from sale and remain with their owner.

Although generally in a more or less complete state of preservation, both tablets were poorly baked upon excavation and were slightly flaking in some places. Furthermore, neither of the tablets had been soaked in water to remove the salts. The first tablet had a sizeable fracture in the centre and right side of the obverse. Both tablets furthermore appeared to have internal cracks of a more recent date. While not clearly interrelated in terms of subject matter, the type of clay and colour of the two tablets was not markedly different, and they may stem from the same site.

In the following, we present compiled photographs along with a transliteration and commentary for each text, although the amount of historical information that can be derived from the tablets is fairly minute. Given the restricted access, it has not been possible to collate the tablets further.

Bruun Rasmussen 1 (P530975)

Single column tablet made from buff, slightly greyish brown clay. Sizeable fracture, c. 40x20 mm on upper right quarter of obverse, with occasional flaking elsewhere on this face. Reverse well preserved. Inscription recording barley rent paid by 11 individuals related to a field plot

Length: 86 mm
Width: 49 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
 

Transcription

Commentary

Every line is ruled off with a horizontal line, except after obv. 13, where there is a double horizontal line to mark the total added up in obv. 14.

obv. 10: The reconstructed name is based on examples found in, e.g., DPA no. 46 obv. 6 and UET 2 supp. 48 col. i 6’. Andersson (2012, 152, 223, 360) reads these signs as lugal-LUḪ “the lugal (is) pure (or purifies?)” and we follow this reading here. The low frequency of attestations suggests that we should perhaps read the line differently. The break could contain two broken signs and an alternative reading of the line could include two personal names: lugal-[x x]-⸢x⸣.

obv. 11: For the reading of the partly visible ligature ^den, see the ^den in obv. 13. The relationship between the first name, Ur-pisan, and the divine name, ^den-zu, is unclear, although the text may designate that Ur-pisan belonged to either the deity or his temple.

obv. 14: Preserved entries add up to a total of 8 gur, 10 barig, and 16 ban₂. This number is compatible with the damaged total in obv. 14, when assuming the text employ the Akkad gur, which is equivalent to 5 barig (Powell 1990, 497-498). The total could therefore be recalculated into 10 gur, 2 barig, and 4 ban₂, assuming 6 ban₂ makes 1 barig. Thus, the broken number must have tallied 2 barig.

rev. 15: A personal name me-a is attested in several Old Akkadian tablets, e.g., FT 2 pl. 55 rev. 9 and MVN 3 no. 113 col. i 17. We cannot determine if the broken sign after me-a produces a longer, unknown name. We assume the final sign was an ablative-instrumental -ta repeated in the verbal form in rev. 18.

rev. 16: The first sign must be read maš₂ as this fits the context. However, the sign does not display a “Winkelhagen” in the third stroke but a vertical wedge. Thus, the sign looks like MAŠ-DU₃. This form is not attested in Maiocchi (2009, 261), Labat (1988) or Gelb (1961, 218ff).

For the interpretations of maš₂ še-gub-ba, see Steinkeller (1981) and Selz (1995, 42 note 160 with further references). The še-gub-ba appears to have been a specific part of a field rent paid in barley by the tenant(s) as a portion of the yield after the harvest. Additionally, there must have been a final sign that is now broken. We reconstruct -bi in accordance with examples cited in the above studies.

rev. 17: The Akkadian personal name i₃-li₂ seems normally to be written with an additional element. We have, however, observed the name written similarly in, e.g., HSS 10 no. 120 rev. 3, no. 142 obv. 2, and MDP 14 no. 19 rev. 4.

Further notes

The reading of maš₂ še-gub-ba-[bi] in rev. 16 identifies the text as an account of field rents or yield portions due at the time of the harvest, and suggests that the text is a product of the management of a large institution, as is also hinted at by the amount of grain mentioned. For the litre measurements in the translation we use the general approximation of 1 sila to 1 litre (Westenholz 1987, 7). Using a barley volume-to-weight ratio of 1:0.65 (Paulette 2015, 45-46 with further references), the reconstructed total of 3,160 litres then translates into a little more than two tonnes of grain. If constituting only part of the yield, some of the tenants listed in the text must have been working relatively significant land plots, well above the nucleated household subsistence minimum of 2.4 ha calculated by, e.g., Hunt (1987, 166; also Liverani 1996, 17 and Fig. 19). Metrology and stylistic characteristics suggest a dating to the late 23^th century BCE. The predominance of Sumerian names may point to an origin in the southern Iraqi alluvium.

Bruun Rasmussen 2 (P530976)

Double column tablet made from buff, slightly greyish brown clay. Obverse upper centre with brittle and damaged surface, also seen on reverse along edges. Noticeable crack along the entire vertical column dividing line on obverse, also visible on reverse. Inscription concerning issues or receipt of beer and flour involving around forty individuals (see below, Further notes).

Length: 88 mm
Width: 62 mm
Thickness: 24 mm

Transcription

Commentary

col. i 6: The first sign could be MIR read nimgir or aga₃. Possible reconstructions include nimgir-ki-ag₂, but we cannot determine what was once there.

col. ii 22: Although the signs are almost completely broken away, the last sign could have a shape similar to šeš.

col. ii 36: A personal name similar to the one in col. ii 34 appears to be repeated here.

col. iii 40: It is difficult to see if there are two or three broken signs before the partly visible -im. The sign before may be a -ki-. Perhaps the name should be read ama-ki-im or nin-ki-im as in MVN 2 no. 298 col. ii 13-14.

col. iii 42: We cannot reconstruct the first sign properly, but we would expect a single small sign ending in a vertical wedge. The name could therefore be, e.g., a-bi₂, ra-bi₂ and ba-bi₂ (cf. MVN 2 no. 298 col. ii 18: šu-bi₂).

col. iii 44: The final sign could be a gu, mu, ig, or ušum. However, the sign does not quite resemble the -mu in col. iv 69. If the sign is a -gu, one could reconstruct, e.g., [ur-g]u.

col. iii 49: The first sign appears to be square in format, but must be a partly visible bar. This enables a reconstruction of the common name bar-ra-an or bar-ra-dingir. As transliterations differ between -an and -dingir, we leave the interpretation open by transliterating -AN.

col. iii 50: The final sign could look like a -ni, but there are no good parallels to a name lugal-ni. Instead, we could perhaps read the final sign as -tar^!, seeing as the name lugal-tar is well attested. However, this is uncertain.

col. iv 57: Only the first sign seems half visible, and has the square shape of a box. The second sign may be an igi, but this is far from certain. No plausible reconstruction is offered.

col. iv 59: We suggest the reading ur-maš based on the visible wedges. However, this name is only attested in a handful of Old Akkadian texts (e.g., CUSAS 19 no. 72 obv. 2; PBS 9 no. 43 col. i 9).

col. iv 70: The final sign is unfortunately quite broken, but may be reconstructed with, e.g., šara₂ or simply a -ra (cf. MVN 2 no. 298 col. iii 2: ur-dingir-ra). The name ur-dingir-ra is fairly common. We have left the interpretation of dingir open, as we cannot determine if it was a determinative.

Further notes

The standard amount of beer and flour given in the individual entries can, strictly speaking, be read in two ways with diverging implications for our understanding of their social context. Assuming the text is a disbursement record, a reading “1 (jar of) beer, 10 litres of flour” is not impossible, but we find it odd, then, that the scribe did not mention the measure used for beer while consistently noting the measure used for flour (ban₂). Furthermore, 10 litres of flour to an individual exceeds daily needs, and although flour can easily be issued for longer timespans, beer is habitually issued on a daily basis. A simpler reading is “1 (measure of) beer, ½ (measure of) flour”. This ratio is common in disbursement records of later ages, e.g., from the 18^th century BCE Jazīrah, where common minimum daily rates are 1 litre of beer and 1/3-2/3 litres of flour (Rattenborg 2016). As such, the implied measure used in our text would be sila₃, which agrees with the orthography employed both in the case of beer and flour.

Alternatively, if we interpret the text as an account of beer and flour payment from a group of individuals, the contribution of flour from each individual becomes either surprisingly small (a day’s meal) or quite large (a day’s worth of grinding flour per individual, cf. Englund 1991, 270-273) depending on whether we understand the measure as ½ (sila₃) or 1(ban₂). While neither of the above options are certain, we prefer to interpret the text as an account of foodstuffs, namely individual allotments of a daily meal of beer and flour, issued to a group of individuals by an institution. Assuming each entry accounts for one litre of beer and half a litre of flour, amounts in preserved entries add up to 28 litres of beer and 14 litres of flour.

The text contains no summary total or information on issuing authority or location. As discussed by Steinkeller, such texts were frequently placed in tablet containers (pisan-dub-ba) whereon a label described the nature of all the texts therein, thus negotiating the lack of circumstantial information in individual texts (Steinkeller 2003, 48). The addition of contextual information, e.g., on the date and issuing entity, could have been added later in a compiled account.

These considerations aside, the lack of further information makes it difficult to say anything about the origins or precise dating of the text. It should be noted that around ten of the personal names in this text also appear in MVN 2 no. 298 (CDLI no. P113597), an unprovenanced Old Akkadian text issuing small amounts of silver to 58 individuals. However, on present evidence this is little more than an interesting coincidence. Like Bruun Rasmussen 1, the predominantly Sumerian names in Bruun Rasmussen 2 point to an origin in southern Iraq, and so the texts may stem from the same site.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Bruun Rasmussen and the anonymous owner for permitting us to study and publish these two tablets. We are furthermore indebted to Gojko Barjamovic and Aage Westenholz for their assistance and comments on various aspects of this note. Of course, all remaining errors or mistakes rest with the authors.

References

Andersson, Jakob. (2012). Kingship in the Early Mesopotamian Onomasticon 2800-2200 BCE. Uppsala: University of Uppsala.

Englund, Robert. (1991). Hard Work - Where Will It Get You? Labor Management in Ur III Mesopotamia. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 50(4), pp. 255-280.

Gelb, Ignace J. (1961). Old Akkadian Writing and Grammar [2nd edition]. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Hunt, Robert C. (1987). The Role of Bureaucracy in the Provisioning of Cities: A Framework for Analysis of the Ancient Near East. In M. Gibson & R. D. Biggs (eds.), The Organization of Power: Aspects of Bureaucracy in the Ancient Near East (pp. 161-192). Chicago, IL: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.

Labat, R. (1988). Manuel d'Épigraphie Akkadienne [6th edition]. Paris: Libraire Orientaliste Paul Geuthner.

Liverani, Mario. (1996). Reconstructing the Rural Landscape of the Ancient Near East. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 39(1), pp. 1-41.

Maiocchi, M. (2009). Classical Sargonic Tablets Chiefly from Adab in the Cornell University Collections. Bethesda, ML: CDL Press.

Paulette, Tate. (2015). Grain Storage and the Moral Economy in Mesopotamia (3000-2000 BC) [Dissertation]. Chicago: University of Chicago.  

Powell, Marvin A. (1990). Maße und Gewichte. In D. O. Edzard (ed.), Reallexikon der Assyriologie und vorderasiatischen Archäologie. Siebter Band. Libanukšabaš-Medizin (pp. 457-530). Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter.

Rattenborg, Rune. (2016). The Scale and Extent of Political Economies of the Middle Bronze Age Jazīrah and the Bilād al-Šām (c. 1800-1600 BCE) [Dissertation]. Durham: Durham University.  

Selz, Gebhard J. (1995). Untersuchungen zur Götterwelt des altsumerischen Stadtstaates von Lagaš. Philadelphia, PA: The Samuel Noah Kramer Fund.

Steinkeller, Piotr. (1981). The Renting of Fields in Early Mesopotamia and the Development of the Concept of 'Interest' in Sumerian. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 24, pp. 113-145.

Steinkeller, Piotr. (2003). Archival Practices at Babylonia in the Third Millennium. In M. Brosius (ed.), Ancient Archives and Archival Traditions (pp. 37-58). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Westenholz, Aage. (1987). Old Sumerian and Old Akkadian Texts in Philadelphia. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press.

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	address = {Oxford; Berlin; Los Angeles},
	author = {Arb\o{}ll,  Troels Pank and Rattenborg, Rune},
	journal = {Cuneiform Digital Library Notes},
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	number = {2},
	year = {2018},
	publisher = {Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative},
	title = {Two {Old} {Akkadian} administrative tablets from {Danish} auctioneer {Bruun} {Rasmussen}},
	url = {https://cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/articles/cdln/2018-2},
	volume = {2018},
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