Complex surface calculations at Jemdet Nasr
Artifact: Clay tablet
Provenience: Jemdet Nasr
Period: Uruk III (ca. 3200-3000 BC)
Current location: Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford (Ashm 1926-583)
Text genre, language: Administrative text; undetermined
CDLI page
Description: Referred to as the "field of the EN" text, it contains area calculations for six large fields. It has been shown that the scribes prepared this particular distribution of land by dividing a grand total into thirds—allotting two whole thirds to the EN (later Sumerian “lord”), and dividing the other third unevenly amongst five high officials or individuals. One of these is the EN.SAL, who some have interpreted as 'wife of the EN'. The text is important for providing evidence on the role of scribal administrators in the distribution of resources and supporting a social hierarchy, and for providing stark textual evidence for the stratification of society in the earliest phases of recorded history. (Kathryn Kelley, Oxford University)
Lineart: MSVO 1, 2; OECT 7, 100
Edition(s): Englund, Robert K. & Gregoire, Jean-Pierre, MSVO 1, 2; Langdon, Stephen, OECT 7, 100; de la Füye, Allotte. RA 27 (1930) 65-71; Nissen, Hans J., Damerow, Peter & Englund, Robert K., Frühe Schrift und Techniken der Wirtschaftsverwaltung im alten Vorderen Orient (Berlin 1990) 96-99, no. 12.1
