# The archaic names fall far short of the Sumerian name profile that Early Dynastic names show > Against a benchmark of lemmatized Early Dynastic Sumerian names scored the same way (odds ratios 4.5–5.8, 40–53% of names with an element), the Uruk III… Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/evidence/EVD0DFVQQAH0AHS/the-archaic-names-fall-far-short-of-the-sumerian-name 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 # The archaic names fall far short of the Sumerian name profile that Early Dynastic names show Against a benchmark of lemmatized Early Dynastic Sumerian names scored the same way (odds ratios 4.5–5.8, 40–53% of names with an element), the Uruk III names show only a marginal departure from chance (odds ratio 1.35, 12.4%), so the prediction that they would show Sumerian structure is not borne out. 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[Proto-cuneiform records Sumerian](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/answers/ANS0DEDW4B5BNA0/proto-cuneiform-records-sumerian) Counts against3 for, 6 against **Still possible** unchanged What it implies 1. The names now count against a Sumerian reading, weighted by how far dependents' names reflect the scribes' language.For the key question: What language, if any, do the proto-cuneiform texts record? ## Next steps 14 1 Labels or names: element reuse against Early Dynastic Could shiftGood odds~4 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) **40** score Details Compare how the archaic names reuse their elements (type-token curves, share of elements in two or more distinct names, compositional pairs) with Early Dynastic names at matched sample sizes; linguistic names, of any language, reuse a small vocabulary productively, while ad hoc labels should not. 2 Test the numeral-order argument on Sumerian accounts Could shiftGood odds~6 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) **34** score Details Englund argues that putting the numeral before the noun is un-Sumerian; Dahl notes that account formats may have their own order. In Early Dynastic administrative texts written in Sumerian (Fara and later, from CDLI or Oracc), measure how often the numeral precedes the counted noun. If Sumerian accounts also put it first, the syntax argument drops out and the Sumerian answer loses one objection; if they put it after, the archaic order stays as evidence for the unknown answer. 3 Officials' names in Uruk III Could decideFair odds~10 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) **28** score Details Identify name-like entries attached to officials and institutions in Uruk III (heads of households, seal owners, officials in the Professions-list vocabulary) and score them against the Early Dynastic benchmark. Sumerian-pattern officials with non-Sumerian dependents point to a foreign workforce; non-Sumerian officials point to non-Sumerian scribes or a labelling notation. 4 Officials' names Could decideFair odds~10 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) **28** score Details Test name-like entries attached to officials and institutions in Uruk III, to separate the scribes' own naming culture from the listed workers'. Ranked by how likely each is to move the key question, for the time it takes[All 14 on the question](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/questions/QST0DEDT73JJJ1B/what-language-if-any-do-the-proto-cuneiform-texts-record#next) ## Sources 3 [Gender, age, and labour organization in the earliest texts from Mesopotamia and Iran (c. 3300–2900 BC)](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DFQR2G4EYKD/gender-age-and-labour-organization-in-the-earliest-texts) Kelley 2018 SRC [Kingship in the Early Mesopotamian Onomasticon 2800–2200 BCE](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DFQR3XM5SHF/kingship-in-the-early-mesopotamian-onomasticon-28002200-bce) Andersson 2012 SRC [The Smell of the Cage](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDHS1CGJMA/the-smell-of-the-cage) Englund 2009 SRC ## Cite it ``` Mysteries Department. (2026). The archaic names fall far short of the Sumerian name profile that Early Dynastic names show [Evidence EVD0DFVQQAH0AHS]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/EVD0DFVQQAH0AHS ``` Key **EVD** 0DFVQQAH0AHS Kind Evidence Tier Supported Found in [Session 3](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/sessions/SES0DFVRK8PYQFX/session-3-the-archaic-names-benchmarked-against-real) · 2 Nov 2026 Version 1 Added by [apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo) The record Every record is open data. Take this one as JSON, with its links and its history. [JSON](https://mysteriesdept.com/api/v1/records/EVD0DFVQQAH0AHS)