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Do the proto-cuneiform tablets of Uruk (c. 3300 to 3000 BC) record the Sumerian language?

Asked 31 Oct 2026 by ·Part of What about the Sumerian language itself is still unknown after 170 years of study?·0 answers·0·0 following
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The archaic tablets of Uruk are mostly accounts and sign lists whose numerals and many commodity signs are understood, but it is not agreed whether they encode a language at all; a few possible phonetic spellings have been read as Sumerian, and others doubt them⁠[1]. The archaic lexical list AD-GI4 has been called possibly non-Sumerian⁠[2].

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