One She-Goat Dead
(Cuneiform Tablet)
(Cuneiform Tablet)
40 mm x 40 mm
c. 2040 BCE
Notes:
This cuneiform tablet is arguably the oldest piece of document held by the University of Toronto.
Creator: Lu-kal-la (son of Ur-E'e) – well-known Umma administrator and member of the Umma Ruling Family; also known as the governor’s family. His office was Assistant to the Governor.
Date: 2040 BCE (Year 6 Month 1 of Amar-Sin’s reign)
Provenance: Umma, Sumer (Tell Jokha, Iraq)
Description:
lines on text, obverse: 3 lines of text
on reverse: 3 lines of text on seal; seal depicts impression of two seated city (Shara and Nanshe) to right, standing deity (standing god) adjacent to left and preceding main figure (likely Lu-kal-la) left; hieroglyphic features include divine standard with mushhush (snake-dragon) and circle with four-pointed star.
About the tablet (adapted from exhibit catalogue for "From Mauritania to Japan"):
Cuneiform, the world’s earliest known writing system, began in Mesopotamia in western Asia. It was mainly inscribed on clay tablets (as well as prisms and cylinders), which served as the primary medium for texts across most of the ancient Near East—except the Southern Levant and Arabian Peninsula—for nearly 4,000 years.
This example records the offering of a dead she‑goat to the temple of the healing goddess Gula. This entry was made by Lukalla, a prominent official of Umma and a member of its ruling family. His name appears in the main inscription and also on an impressed seal on the back, which further notes his role as a scribe and identifies him as the son of Ur‑E’e, a cattle manager.
Cuneiform tablets often bear impressions from small carved cylinders called cylinder seals, or glyptics. These acted like personal signatures to mark ownership and to seal objects against tampering. Lukalla’s seal shows a typical presentation scene, where he is led to the sun god Shamash by a protective goddess. This figure, known in Sumerian as lama, frequently appears in such scenes, interceding on behalf of a worshipper.
References:
Algarvio, C. (2024, September–December). From Mauritania to Japan: Multi-materiality and physicality of non-Western manuscripts [Exhibition].
MVN 05, 043 artifact entry (No. P114263). (2023, February 17). Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI). https://cdli.earth/P114263 (Original work published 2001)