# Attempts to read Sumerian or Akkadian in the Uruk texts have not succeeded, and the texts' numeral-before-noun order…

> Attempts to read Sumerian or Akkadian in the Uruk texts have not succeeded, and the texts' numeral-before-noun order is the reverse of Sumerian.

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/evidence/EVD0DEDXMW830Y8/attempts-to-read-sumerian-or-akkadian-in-the-uruk-texts-have  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

---

[Proto-cuneiform: the archaic texts of Uruk](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform)Evidence

Evidence · Proto-cuneiform: the archaic texts of Uruk

# Attempts to read Sumerian or Akkadian in the Uruk texts have not succeeded, and the texts' numeral-before-noun order…

Attempts to read Sumerian or Akkadian in the Uruk texts have not succeeded, and the texts' numeral-before-noun order is the reverse of Sumerian.

Supported0

## What it means

Key question[What language, if any, do the proto-cuneiform texts record?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/questions/QST0DEDT73JJJ1B/what-language-if-any-do-the-proto-cuneiform-texts-record)

5 answers, none ahead yet

**Open** unchanged

Answer this evidence bears on[The language is unknown (Englund's agnosticism)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/answers/ANS0DEDW4E48QNF/the-language-is-unknown-englunds-agnosticism)

Supports1 for, 1 against

**Still possible** unchanged

## Next steps 3

1

Extract the archaic personal names (the slave-name set in Englund 2009 plus any name-position entries) from the CDLI bulk ATF, tabulate their sign structure, and run a permutation test against Early Dynastic Sumerian names (Fara, Abu Salabikh) and Early Dynastic Semitic names for shared elements and positional patterns.

~30 h

[On: What language, if any, do the proto-cuneiform texts record?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/questions/QST0DEDT73JJJ1B/what-language-if-any-do-the-proto-cuneiform-texts-record)

**—** not judged

2

Build a sign-frequency and collocation table from the CDLI bulk ATF under the four counting conventions of Born and Kelley 2021, split by Uruk IV and Uruk III, and compare positional statistics (case-initial, case-final, co-occurrence entropy) with the same measures for the Archaic Ur texts and for proto-Elamite, to see whether Uruk III moves toward the pattern of a language-bound script.

~20 h

[On: What language, if any, do the proto-cuneiform texts record?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/questions/QST0DEDT73JJJ1B/what-language-if-any-do-the-proto-cuneiform-texts-record)

**—** not judged

3

Compile every rebus spelling proposed for Uruk IV and Uruk III texts (Steinkeller 1995, Wilcke 2005, Monaco 2014, Krispijn, Johnson) as a table with the tablet P-number, the sign, the proposed Sumerian value and Whittaker's or Englund's objection, so the live cases can be checked against CDLI contexts one by one.

~12 h

[On: What language, if any, do the proto-cuneiform texts record?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/questions/QST0DEDT73JJJ1B/what-language-if-any-do-the-proto-cuneiform-texts-record)

**—** not judged

Ranked by how likely each is to move the key question, for the time it takes

## Sources 3

[Texts from the Late Uruk Period](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDGX6K5549/texts-from-the-late-uruk-period)

Englund 1998

SRC

[The Early Development of the Cuneiform Writing System, and Its Regional Adaptation](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDK8RPEY2P/the-early-development-of-the-cuneiform-writing-system-and)

Dahl 2025

SRC

[The Smell of the Cage](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDHS1CGJMA/the-smell-of-the-cage)

Englund 2009

SRC

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). Attempts to read Sumerian or Akkadian in the Uruk texts have not succeeded, and the texts' numeral-before-noun order… [Evidence EVD0DEDXMW830Y8]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/EVD0DEDXMW830Y8
```

Key

**EVD** 0DEDXMW830Y8

Kind

Evidence

Tier

Supported

Found in

[Session 1](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/sessions/SES0DEDZMVP66KE/session-1-proto-cuneiform-seeded-corpus-readings-and-open) · 31 Oct 2026

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