The Ur III administrative archives (Umma, Girsu, Puzrish-Dagan, Ur, Nippur)

Not kept here. This copy isn't ours to show. See it where it's published.

At least 120,000 Sumerian administrative tablets of about 2100 to 2000 BC, mostly from unscientific digging at Umma, Girsu and Puzrish-Dagan before 1920 and now dispersed across dozens of museums and private collections. BDTNS had catalogued 105,187 and transliterated 75,818 by May 2026; the rest is the largest readable but unread block of cuneiform.

SpeakingArch (Wikimedia Commons), 2000. CC BY-SA 4.0

Copies 2

PhotoSpeakingArch (Wikimedia Commons) · commons.wikimedia.org · 2026-07-08 · CC BY-SA 4.01 step from the original

Where it's published

Dataset (bdtns)Manuel Molina and the BDTNS team · bdtns.cesga.es · Copyright Manuel Molina (CSIC); free to consult online, no open licence statedPrimary source: Database of Neo-Sumerian Texts (BDTNS): About1 step from the original

Where it's published

Where it is kept

British Museum, London · Museum

Sources 2

Cite it

Mysteries Department. (2026). The Ur III administrative archives (Umma, Girsu, Puzrish-Dagan, Ur, Nippur) [Artifact ART0DEDQR8ZDCWZ]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ART0DEDQR8ZDCWZ

@misc{mysteriesdept_art0dedqr8zdcwz,
  title     = {The Ur III administrative archives (Umma, Girsu, Puzrish-Dagan, Ur, Nippur)},
  author    = {{Mysteries Department}},
  year      = {2026},
  note      = {Artifact, catalog key ART0DEDQR8ZDCWZ},
  url       = {https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ART0DEDQR8ZDCWZ}
}