Scribes recorded a transaction in ordered detail

A short Middle Assyrian receipt could preserve enough information to distinguish one delivery from another. KAJ 233 begins with a quantity of barley, then gives its purpose, the recipient and his father's name. It ends with a month, day and eponym year. The record's structure connected goods to people and time.

These details made a transaction available for later checking. A scribe did not need to tell the whole story of the recipient's life to establish an accountable transfer. MARV 10, 07 similarly identifies palace footwear, the steward responsible and the person receiving it. Scribal work converted a practical handover into a lasting institutional record.

Dates used named eponym years

The date on KAJ 233 gives the month Kuzallu, the thirteenth day and the eponymy of Adad-nirari. An eponym year was identified by a named official rather than by a number in the BCE system used today. Converting such a date into a modern year therefore depends on reconstructing the sequence of eponyms and the reigns to which they belong.

MARV 10, 07 uses the same broad dating form but names Adad-resha-ishi as its eponym. A matching personal name is not by itself enough to equate two dates or identify an official with a king. The tablets preserve the ancient date statement; an absolute modern date requires a separate chronological argument.

Seals made authority visible

A seal could leave an identifying image in clay. At Dur-Katlimmu, excavators recovered seal impressions on tablets and on clay devices associated with an administrative deposit. The glyptic study identifies impressions connected to different levels of authority, including the grand vizier Shulmanu-mushabshi and the district governor Etir-Marduk. The material connects office holders to the physical handling of records and goods.

The Harvard-supported Dūr-Katlimmu research identifies numerous seal images and thousands of clay safety devices. It also notes that some sealed documents originated in other cities. A sealing found at Dur-Katlimmu need not have been made there, and the findspot alone cannot identify every seal's place of use.

An envelope could repeat the record

TabT05A-151+ from Tell Taban preserves a flour receipt and its envelope. The tablet names the flour, the responsible official Tehup-sheni and the recipient Ashur-ketta-leshir. The envelope repeats those core details. A reader can therefore see how the same transaction existed in both an inner record and an outer covering.

Envelopes also occur with the Tell Taban documents catalogued as purchases of enslaved people. They were part of documentary practice in more than one kind of transaction. The surviving tablet and covering provide concrete evidence of how records were packaged; they do not require us to invent a universal procedure for opening, checking or disputing every envelope.

Clay tablets belonged to larger record systems

KAJ 247 mentions a writing-board associated with Sin-ashared as well as the personnel and temple activity recorded on clay. The reference shows that the surviving tablet belonged to a world using more than one writing surface. A clay archive is therefore only part of the original record system, even when its individual transactions remain legible.

Modern publication adds another set of names: KAJ 247 is also identified by museum number VAT 08971 and Oracc/CDLI number P282259. Those labels let readers locate the same ancient object across catalogues and editions. They are modern reference tools, while the ancient names, quantities and date belong to the transaction itself.

CONNECTED RESEARCH

Explore the concordance.

These are editorial reading links, not a claim that different documents describe the same event.

Evidence trail

This introduction draws on the following sources: [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. Section reading trails highlight selected references where a more precise relationship has been recorded. Unmapped passages and other references remain at article level; these trails are not a sentence-by-sentence verification. Editorial guidance is identified in the text.

Go to the evidence

Sources & further reading

  • 1
    Primary tablet and document-type catalogue

    ATMAP/TCMA Middle Assyrian texts from Tabete (Tell Taban)

    Oracc / Archival Texts of the Middle Assyrian Period

    Texts include receipts, allocations, letters, lists and purchase documents; preserve distinctions of findspot and period before comparison.. Recorded source check: 2026-10-29.
  • 2
    Archaeological finds and seal-impression study

    The Glyptic Evidence of the Middle Assyrian Period from Dur-Katlimmu

    Harvard University, Shelby White and Leon Levy Program

    Research describes 666 registered fragmentary cuneiform tablets and seal impressions in a specific administrative deposit. Object count is not an ancient census.. Recorded source check: 2026-10-29.
  • 3
    Edition of primary cuneiform tablet

    KAJ 233 / KAV 207, equine barley allocation, CDLI P282245, VAT 08950

    Oracc ATMAP/TCMA, Jacob Jan de Ridder

    Assur M 09 Archive, excavation Ass 14446 p*. A receipt for barley associated with a service horse and a dated eponymy; not a general army ration schedule.. Recorded source check: 2026-10-30.
  • 4
    Edition of primary cuneiform tablet

    MARV 10, 07, palace footwear receipt, CDLI P282957, VAT 10052

    Oracc ATMAP/TCMA, Jacob Jan de Ridder

    Assur M 07 Archive, excavation Ass 21101 s. Palace footwear assigned to an individual described as a hostage; campaign wording is uncertain.. Recorded source check: 2026-10-30.
  • 5
    Edited primary Middle Assyrian administrative tablet

    TabT05A-151+, flour receipt and envelope, P532046

    Oracc ATMAP/TCMA, Jacob Jan de Ridder (2020); Shibata 2012 and Llop / Shibata 2016

    Obverse 1-7, bottom edge 8 through reverse 15, and envelope 1-7. Original explanatory paraphrases of the edition, released under CC BY-SA 3.0. The relationship of later uses to the received flour total is uncertain. Named places are not a single itinerary.. Recorded source check: 2026-10-30.
  • 6
    Edition of primary cuneiform tablet

    KAJ 247, Middle Assyrian receipt, CDLI P282259, VAT 08971

    Oracc ATMAP/TCMA, Jacob Jan de Ridder

    Assur, M 09 Archive, excavation Ass 14446 df. Labour/temple entry; workers and receipt interpretation retain editorial question marks.. Recorded source check: 2026-10-30.
  • 7
    Specialist edited primary administrative text corpus

    Archival Texts of the Middle Assyrian Period (ATMAP/TCMA)

    Oracc / Jacob Jan de Ridder and project contributors

    Online corpus with transliterations, translations, findspots, bibliographies and provenance notes. Its 3,000+ texts are a corpus description, not representative of every inhabitant.. Recorded source check: 2026-10-29.

A foundation to build on

This introduction was compiled from the linked sources and has not received specialist peer review. It is intended as a route into further research. Read how corrections and reviews are handled.

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