The Female Fat-tailed Sheep in Palaeography and the Administration of Drehem during the Ur III Period

Abstract

The Sumerian cuneiform term for the “female fat-tailed sheep”, written as either U8+HUL2 or u8 gukkal, is attested in different administrative documents issued by the Puzriš-Dagan organization (modern Drehem in Iraq) dating to the period between Šulgi 44 and Šu-Suen 6 —mostly from Šulgi 47 to Amar-Suen 8 during the Third Dynasty of Ur (also Ur III, ca. 2112-2004 BCE). This study aims to identify the attestations and frequency of the two variants in palaeography from the Ur III Drehem texts as they appear chronologically, and attempts to figure out the reason why the ancient scribes chose one writing over the other. Four administrative texts categories, mu-kux(DU) “delivery”, i3-dab5 “transfer”, ba-zi “expenditure” and šu ba-ti “receipt”, presented the regular formulas with the specific officials attested in the Ur III Drehem texts recording the female fat-tailed sheep. It will also address why they differentiated their writing according to the documentation by comparing images of their cuneiform tablets. One reason is that the ancient scribes in the Puzriš-Dagan organization were replaced with the enthronement of Amar-Suen. But the more likely interpretation is that there was a written change that happened during the reign of Amar-Suen.