Cuneiform Tablet: Old Assyrian Text

Small rectangular clay tablet with cuneiform writing. The tablet is inscribed with ruled lines of text written in the Old Assyrian dialect of the Akkadian language. Tablet is whole with 4 lines of text on obverse, 1 on lower edge and 1 on reverse. The rest of tablet is uninscribed and there are no seal impressions. The tablet probably comes from the trading colony (karum) by the mound of Kültepe (ancient Kanesh) near Kaiseri in Cappadocia (central Anatolia). The text is very short and records the writer of the tablet (line 5: "I gave") entrusting 7 shekels of second-quality silver, presumably for transport. IMAGE: Top row, first on left.