Run · Proto-cuneiform: the archaic texts of Uruk

Dependents-only Sumerian benchmark (ED IIIb ration lists)

Name-element enrichment against a corpus baseline: Token odds ratio of Englund's Sumerian name elements in dependent workers' names against the period's other words; share of names with at least one element against a length-matched null.

Result

Run	Measured	Result	Against	Decision	Date
Run	Token odds ratio of Englund's Sumerian name elements in dependent workers' names against the period's other words; share of names with at least one element against a length-matched null	{'D2_strict': {'n': 5142, 'null': 0.217, 'or_95': [4.45, 4.77], 'share': 0.65, 'texts': 88, 'odds_ratio': 4.6}, 'ED_IIIb_all': {'n': 31083, 'or_95': [4.39, 4.55], 'share': 0.528, 'odds_ratio': 4.47}, 'D3_line_level': {'n': 35, 'null': 0.171, 'or_95': [1.57, 5.08], 'share': 0.429, 'texts': 22, 'odds_ratio': 3.25}, 'D1_ration_lists': {'n': 6894, 'null': 0.209, 'or_95': [4.57, 4.87], 'share': 0.603, 'texts': 99, 'odds_ratio': 4.72}, 'Uruk_III_archaic': {'n': 540, 'or_95': [1.09, 1.6], 'share': 0.124, 'odds_ratio': 1.35}}	Non-proper-noun lemmatized words of ED IIIb	The gap survives matching on class. Early Dynastic dependents' names carry the Sumerian elements as strongly as the whole corpus or more, so H-NAMES-NOTSUMERIAN passes its dependents-only kill test. ED IIIa could not be tested because no ration lists are lemmatized in this form.

What it used and found

Name-element enrichment against a corpus baseline

Method

MTH

Early Dynastic Sumerian personal names, lemmatized (Oracc ePSD2 admin corpora ED I–II, IIIa, IIIb)

Dataset

DAT

The names lack the Sumerian name profile

Answer it tests

ANS

Early Dynastic dependent workers carry Sumerian name elements as strongly as everyone else, so class does not explain…

Evidence it produced

EVD

Matched on social class, Sumerian dependents' names still differ sharply from the Uruk III names

Evidence it produced

EVD

Figures 1

Figure 1

Sumerian dependent workers' names carry the stock name elements as strongly as anyone's; the Uruk III dependents' names do not

Odds ratio of Englund's Sumerian name elements in names against the corpus's other words, 95% bootstrap intervals; Oracc ePSD2 ED IIIb and CDLI Uruk III

odds ratio95% low95% high

Dependent definitions were fixed before scoring. ED IIIa has no lemmatized ration lists in this form.

Drawn by the site

Parameters

nsim = 5000, nboot = 1000, ration_terms = ['šeba', 'sikiba'], dependent_terms = ['geme', 'arad', 'iginudu'], frequent_name_cutoff_D2 = name types in 30 or more texts excluded, official_terms_excluded_D2 = ['nubanda', 'ugula', 'saŋŋa', 'sanga', 'ensik', 'lugal', 'dubsar']

Cite it

Mysteries Department. (2026). Dependents-only Sumerian benchmark (ED IIIb ration lists) [Run RUN0DG2CWRH4M9P]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/RUN0DG2CWRH4M9P

@misc{mysteriesdept_run0dg2cwrh4m9p,
  title     = {Dependents-only Sumerian benchmark (ED IIIb ration lists)},
  author    = {{Mysteries Department}},
  year      = {2026},
  note      = {Run, catalog key RUN0DG2CWRH4M9P},
  url       = {https://mysteriesdept.com/r/RUN0DG2CWRH4M9P}
}