This unique ancient Near Eastern artefact was donated to the Art Palace by representatives of “Leville 1918,” Lado Bebia and Tamaz Gujejiani, to whom we extend our deepest gratitude.

The object is a small clay administrative tablet inscribed in Sumerian cuneiform, dating to the Akkadian period, approximately 2300–2200 BCE. The tablet measures approximately 34 × 32 mm and contains a total of eight lines on both sides. It is also accompanied by an old scholarly note by the renowned British Assyriologist and University of Birmingham professor Wilfrid George Lambert. Lambert identified it as an administrative document originating from Sumer and particularly noted the numerous numerical data contained in the text.

Perhaps the most fascinating aspect, however, is the attempt to decipher the inscription itself. The tablet is considerably worn, and therefore the reading presented below is highly tentative rather than a definitive scholarly transliteration. Based on individual signs, it may be possible to interpret the text as an economic record in which approximately “20 sheep” and “30 [units of] barley” may have been mentioned. As an extremely cautious working hypothesis, the text may also contain a personal name - “Laluma”  (La-lu-ma / Lalima?).

It is important to emphasise that these three details - 20 sheep, 30 barley, and the name “Lalima” - are only tentative readings at this stage and require further Assyriological research.

Imagine this: more than four thousand years ago, someone recorded an ordinary economic account of their daily life on a small clay tablet. People whose names have long since been forgotten by history speak to us again today through a handful of wedge-shaped marks impressed into clay.

This small, yet remarkable testimony to one of humanity’s earliest written cultures will now find its home in Tbilisi, at the Art Palace of Georgia - Museum of Cultural History