Evidence · Unread cuneiform: half a million tablets and the limits of Sumerian

Even where the substitutions are undone, the Early Dynastic spelling omits suffixes, postpositions and verbal…

Even where the substitutions are undone, the Early Dynastic spelling omits suffixes, postpositions and verbal morphemes and does not keep sign order, so the 2020 editors of the Zame hymns still call their translation provisional.

Supported0

What it means

Key questionWhy do the Early Dynastic literary texts from Fara and Abu Salabikh resist reading, and can they be read without later duplicates?

3 answers, none ahead yet

Openunchanged

Answer this evidence bears onUD.GAL.NUN is a recoverable orthography

Counts against1 for, 1 against

Still possibleunchanged

Next steps 1

Compile the full UD.GAL.NUN substitution table from Krecher, Krebernik and Lisman and test its regularity across the Fara and Abu Salabikh tablets on CDLI.

~20 h

On: Why do the Early Dynastic literary texts from Fara and Abu Salabikh resist reading, and can they be read without later duplicates?

—not judged

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

Sources 2

The Sumerian Zame Hymns from Tell Abū Ṣalābīḫ, with an appendix on the Early Dynastic colophons

Krebernik 2020

SRC

Zame Hymns (Wikipedia article)

contributors 2026

SRC

Cite it

Mysteries Department. (2026). Even where the substitutions are undone, the Early Dynastic spelling omits suffixes, postpositions and verbal… [Evidence EVD0DEDYR66DXTW]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/EVD0DEDYR66DXTW

@misc{mysteriesdept_evd0dedyr66dxtw,
  title     = {Even where the substitutions are undone, the Early Dynastic spelling omits suffixes, postpositions and verbal…},
  author    = {{Mysteries Department}},
  year      = {2026},
  note      = {Evidence, catalog key EVD0DEDYR66DXTW},
  url       = {https://mysteriesdept.com/r/EVD0DEDYR66DXTW}
}