Ur III dairies: 9 (2024-08-13)

Created by: Englund, Robert K.

Four-column dairies account in the collection of Allegheny College, Meadville, Pennsylvania.

MVN 15, 108, is a large consolidated account concerning the activities of an official named Atu, supervisor (Sumerian šuš3) of cattle herders in Umma. The milk cows themselves are never mentioned in the text, but all products and the names of all persons make its identification as a major document of Umma dairy herding certain. The products called i3-nun (“butter oil”) and ga-UDgunû (“kašk cheese”) are listed in pairs, always divisible by 5 and 7.5, respectively, thus indicating the number of adult cows in the herds supervised by known cattle herders (Sumerian unu3). The text mirrors the structure known generally of Ur III accounts: 1) DEBITS = sag-nig2-gur11-ra(k) a) si-i3-tum = la2-ia3 of the preceding accounting period, expressed in standardized values b) (ugu2) state property given over to supervisors as “investment” converted into standardized values 2) CREDITS = ša3-bi-ta ... zi-ga-am3, delivered real products and real work and allowances converted into standardized values 3) BALANCE: debits minus credits If debits are greater than credits, a deficit la2-ia3 will appear as si-i3-tum in the debits section of the following account, or be otherwise dispensed of If credits are greater than debits, a surplus diri will appear as diri (nig2-ka9 aka) in the credits section of the following account, or otherwise be dispensed of 4) COLOPHON: “Account (nig2-ka9 aka) concerning ... ,” Date The account was edited in R. Englund, “Regulating Dairy Productivity in the Ur III Period,” Orientalia 64 (1995) 403-425. CDLI entry: P118388.

credit: Englund, Robert K.