31/07/2026
More than four thousand years ago, someone pressed these signs into a clay tablet. Today, they still speak.
This Sumerian cuneiform tablet was created in the ancient city of Umma around 2004 BC, during the reign of Šulgi, king of the Third Dynasty of Ur. Its date formula refers to “the year Simurrum was destroyed.”
The inscription records allocations of fine b**r to named individuals, an ordinary administrative transaction that survived the fall of kingdoms and the passage of four millennia.
Although parts of the tablet were deliberately erased in antiquity, enough remains to identify its origin and historical context. Comparable tablets from Umma have been extensively studied by the British Museum, Harvard, and Yale, allowing this small object to be placed within one of humanity’s earliest bureaucratic systems.
Holding and studying this remarkable clay tablet firsthand, and capturing its details through our own lens, was a rare privilege. Few experiences create such a tangible connection to the people who lived more than four thousand years ago.
Umma, Sumer • c. 2004 BC
