# Kushim: confined to one archive, absent from the title lists, often written beside SANGA > KU.ŠIM is on 23 tablets, all but two in the MSVO 3 group attributed to Uruk. It is not an entry in any witness of the archaic professions (Lu2 A) or… Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/evidence/EVD0DG367HPYKNT/kushim-confined-to-one-archive-absent-from-the-title-lists 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 # Kushim: confined to one archive, absent from the title lists, often written beside SANGA KU.ŠIM is on 23 tablets, all but two in the MSVO 3 group attributed to Uruk. It is not an entry in any witness of the archaic professions (Lu2 A) or Officials lists. In 5 of its 28 entries it is written beside SANGA in either order, the way a name stands beside a title. Names and titles in this corpus cannot be told apart by how spread out they are (both have a median of 2–3 sites, n = 4 and 6), so this rests on the list absence and the SANGA pattern and is weak. Suggestive0 ## 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 Part of it[Do the roughly 440 personal names in the archaic texts follow Sumerian, Semitic or some other naming pattern?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/questions/QST0DEDTDFDF2VV/do-the-roughly-440-personal-names-in-the-archaic-texts) 5 answers, none ahead yet **Open** unchanged Part of it[Is KU.ŠIM ('Kushim') in the Uruk III barley accounts a person's name or an office?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/questions/QST0DG361XDYRE2/is-ku-sim-kushim-in-the-uruk-iii-barley-accounts-a-persons) 2 answers, none ahead yet **Open** was No evidence yet Answer this evidence bears on[A person](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/answers/ANS0DG364FTTKN7/a-person) Supports1 for, none against **Still possible** was No evidence yet What it implies 1. Kushim leans toward a person's name: it behaves like the name half of 'SANGA + name' and is not a listed title; it is not settled.For: Is KU.ŠIM ('Kushim') in the Uruk III barley accounts a person's name or an office? ## Next steps 2 1 Slot test: what fills the SANGA + X slot Could shiftFair odds~2 h [On: Is KU.ŠIM ('Kushim') in the Uruk III barley accounts a person's name or an office?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/questions/QST0DG361XDYRE2/is-ku-sim-kushim-in-the-uruk-iii-barley-accounts-a-persons)Set by this evidence **17** score Details Collect every Uruk III entry with SANGA and one other sign group. If the other groups are mostly marked names, Kushim in that slot is a name; if they are mostly institutions or goods, it is an office or unit. 2 Read the Kushim tablets' headers and totals Adds evidencePoor odds · needs a person~4 h [On: Is KU.ŠIM ('Kushim') in the Uruk III barley accounts a person's name or an office?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/questions/QST0DG361XDYRE2/is-ku-sim-kushim-in-the-uruk-iii-barley-accounts-a-persons) **3** score Details Do a close reading of the MSVO 3 Kushim tablets (photos on CDLI). If KU.ŠIM stands where seal-holders or responsible persons stand, it is a person; if it stands where institutions or recipients stand, it is an office. Ranked by how likely each is to move the key question, for the time it takes ## How it was found 1 run [Kushim tests: archive concentration and the SANGA slot](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/runs/RUN0DG378SBSESQ/kushim-tests-archive-concentration-and-the-sanga-slot) Method [Within-name position test against a shuffle](https://mysteriesdept.com/methods/MTH0DFQRKBRYDX3/within-name-position-test-against-a-shuffle) · [Session 9](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/sessions/SES0DG38A190RRC/session-9-brute-force-checks-of-the-candidate-readings-sign) **Result.** Kushim is more concentrated in one archive (10 of 11 tablets) than any recurrent name or title; it is not in the title lists; and the SANGA + X slot it occupies is filled 24% by titles, 14% by names and 61% by other terms. By the rule set in advance, undecided. Share of a type's tablets in its largest publication volume / provenience**0.909** Undecided; the distribution features cannot separate names from titles in this corpus (too few recurrent marked names). [Archaic personal names in proto-cuneiform (editor-marked, CDLI)](https://mysteriesdept.com/datasets/DAT0DFQRBEXWTK9/archaic-personal-names-in-proto-cuneiform-editor-marked-cdli)[kushim_test.py][kushim_test_prov.py][sanga_slot.py][3 outputs](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/runs/RUN0DG378SBSESQ/kushim-tests-archive-concentration-and-the-sanga-slot#outputs) ## Sources 1 [Texts from the Late Uruk Period](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDGX6K5549/texts-from-the-late-uruk-period) Englund 1998 SRC ## Cite it ``` Mysteries Department. (2026). Kushim: confined to one archive, absent from the title lists, often written beside SANGA [Evidence EVD0DG367HPYKNT]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/EVD0DG367HPYKNT ``` Key **EVD** 0DG367HPYKNT Kind Evidence Tier Suggestive Found in [Session 9](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/sessions/SES0DG38A190RRC/session-9-brute-force-checks-of-the-candidate-readings-sign) · 3 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/EVD0DG367HPYKNT)