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

Asked 31 Oct 2026 by ·3 answers·0·0 following
Three answers, none aheadNone is ahead yet. See what would settle it.

Where it stands

Three answers have been proposed. None is ahead on the evidence yet. Three are still possible.

Why it matters

The Fara and Abu Salabikh literary tablets of about 2600 BC write Sumerian in a spelling that leaves out suffixes, postpositions and verbal morphemes, does not keep the signs in spoken order, and in many compositions replaces common signs by others under the UD.GAL.NUN system identified by Krecher in 1978⁠[1]⁠[2]. The Kesh Temple Hymn can be read because an Old Babylonian duplicate supplies the grammar; the Zame hymns, with no duplicate, are translated only provisionally by their 2020 editors, and Cooper calls the UD.GAL.NUN myths very hard to understand⁠[3]⁠[4]⁠[5].

Answers 3

Evidence: 2 for
Still possible
Evidence: none yet
Still possible
UD.GAL.NUN is a recoverable orthography
Evidence for it, no test yet
Evidence: 1 for, 1 against
Still possible

Next steps 1

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
—not judged
Ranked by how likely each is to move the key question, for the time it takes

History

  1. Robert D. Biggs: the Abu Salabikh Kesh Temple Hymn is readable because its Old Babylonian duplicate of eight centuries later matches it…For: Only texts with later duplicates can be read
  2. Joachim Krecher: krecher identified regular sign substitutions (UD for AN, GAL for EN, NUN for LIL) across the Fara and Abu Salabikh…For: UD.GAL.NUN is a recoverable orthography
  3. Jerrold S. Cooper: cooper judges the UD.GAL.NUN compositions very hard to understand and thinks they left the curriculum before Ur III…For: Only texts with later duplicates can be read
  4. Manfred Krebernik: even where the substitutions are undone, the Early Dynastic spelling omits suffixes, postpositions and verbal…Against: UD.GAL.NUN is a recoverable orthography
  5. Manfred Krebernik: krecher identified regular sign substitutions (UD for AN, GAL for EN, NUN for LIL) across the Fara and Abu Salabikh…For: UD.GAL.NUN is a recoverable orthography
  6. Wikipedia contributors: even where the substitutions are undone, the Early Dynastic spelling omits suffixes, postpositions and verbal…Against: UD.GAL.NUN is a recoverable orthography
  7. Session 1: raised the question and proposed three answers
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