# Robert K. Englund 2009: The Smell of the Cage

> Robert K. Englund, 2009. 8 records on Mysteries Department cite it. Englund's fullest statement of the case against assuming Sumerian: about 440 probable…

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDHS1CGJMA/the-smell-of-the-cage  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

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[Sources](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources)[Proto-cuneiform: the archaic texts of Uruk](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform)Robert K. Englund 2009

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# The Smell of the Cage

Robert K. Englund, 2009.

**Proto-cuneiform: the archaic texts of Uruk** Article0

## What it's used for here

Englund's fullest statement of the case against assuming Sumerian: about 440 probable slave names with no Sumerian divine or ur-/amar- elements, qualifier-before-noun syntax, and criticism of Rubio, Wilcke and Steiner. Cuneiform Digital Library Journal 2009:4. CC BY 4.0.

## Cited by on this site 8 records

[About 440 archaic personal names show none of the divine elements or ur-/amar- patterns found in every later Sumerian…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/evidence/EVD0DEDXMN6P3DD/about-440-archaic-personal-names-show-none-of-the-divine)

Evidence

EVD

[Attempts to read Sumerian or Akkadian in the Uruk texts have not succeeded, and the texts' numeral-before-noun order…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/evidence/EVD0DEDXMW830Y8/attempts-to-read-sumerian-or-akkadian-in-the-uruk-texts-have)

Evidence

EVD

[The sexagesimal numeration and the unbroken continuity of signs and lists into Sumerian cuneiform are more easily…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/evidence/EVD0DEDXN34DDPV/the-sexagesimal-numeration-and-the-unbroken-continuity-of)

Evidence

EVD

[Englund argues from 440 personal names that the archaic scribes were not demonstrably Sumerian speakers](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/events/EVT0DEDQRFZAK4F/englund-argues-from-440-personal-names-that-the-archaic)

EVT

[Robert K. Englund](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/people/FIG0DEDPAB5K3MB/robert-k-englund)

FIG

[Proto-cuneiform: the archaic texts of Uruk](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform)

The mystery article

MYS

[Do the roughly 440 personal names in the archaic texts follow Sumerian, Semitic or some other naming pattern?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/questions/QST0DEDTDFDF2VV/do-the-roughly-440-personal-names-in-the-archaic-texts)

Question

QST

[What language, if any, do the proto-cuneiform texts record?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/questions/QST0DEDT73JJJ1B/what-language-if-any-do-the-proto-cuneiform-texts-record)

Question

QST

## Cite it

```
Robert K. Englund (2009). The Smell of the Cage. https://cdli.earth/articles/cdlj/309
```

[Find it at cdli.earth](https://cdli.earth/articles/cdlj/309)

Key

**SRC** 0DEDHS1CGJMA

Kind

Journal article

Rights

The publisher's

Kept

31 Oct 2026, for editors

Added by

[apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo)

The record

Bibliographic records are CC0. Take this one as CSL-JSON, BibTeX or RIS.

[CSL-JSON](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDHS1CGJMA/the-smell-of-the-cage/csl.json)