Clay tablets have played an extremely important role in learning more about our ancestors. In them, ancient messages were written in different languages, but mainly, they have helped historians decipher languages such as Sumerian, Akkadian, and Hittite. The Sumerians left hundreds of tablets that unfortunately ended up in the hands of modern looters, who distributed them as objects of monetary value, leaving out the valuable context behind them. The path of many of these clay tablets has been winding or they have simply been lost among the most die-hard collectors, but there is one that was rescued from oblivion and donated to the University of Cambridge, whose message has already been resolved.
In 1921, the University of Cambridge received a donation of what one might think is an insignificant clay tablet that barely reaches the size of a thumb, but the reality is that its small surface contains a lot of very valuable and ancient information. In fact, since its arrival at Cambridge, it became the oldest text in the entire facility, which, it must be said, has a great 600-year tradition of safeguarding valuable documents.
Unfortunately, while in Cambridge, the ancient tablet was mysteriously lost, leaving archaeologists curious about its written message. But a few years later, in 2016, it was recovered in good condition and the message inscribed in Sumerian that was carefully carved into its surface was finally deciphered.
The oldest commercial transaction
According to Professor Nicholas Postgate of the University of Cambridge, the clay tablet is at least 4,200 years old and comes from Sumeria, in the southeastern region of what we currently know as Iraq. It is small in size, barely reaching the size of a thumb, however, it is striking because it has a message engraved in cuneiform writing, distributed in six lines made “professionally” by a scribe.
Postgate also explains that although the content is very simple, the information it offers us is very valuable. Archaeologists have managed to translate the inscribed message detailing a commercial transaction from ancient Sumeria: “18 jars of pig fat – Balli. 4 jars of pork fat – Nimgir-ab-lah. Fat dispensed (in?) the city of Zabala. Ab-kid-kid, the scribe. 4th year 10th month.”
MS Doc. 829 Sumerian clay tablet by Cambridge Digital Library on Sketchfab
According to Postgate, the message does indeed talk about a large quantity of jars of lard or pork fat, but it also indicates the name of Balli, who he believes would be some kind of official responsible for supervising the transaction. It can also be interpreted that this fat was dispensed in the city of Zabala, in the south of present-day Iraq. “We think these jars were eighty liters each, so that means we’re talking hundreds of liters of butter,” she says.
Although the tablet does not contain more information and archaeologists are not able to obtain a broader context from it, different tablets that have appeared around the world give more clues to understand what exactly it refers to. Postgate explains that Balli’s name not only appears here, but can be read recurrently on other tablets obtained in the same region and that belong to the same historical period.
Thanks to an extensive analysis of other tablets with cuneiform inscriptions in Sumerian, archaeologists have managed to decipher that about 4 thousand years ago, there was a government office that monitored transactions associated with the trade of resources. Perhaps the oldest on record and which has surprised historians, due to the well-organized form of commerce of ancient Sumeria.