1983.103: Fragment of Cuneiform Tablet: Old Assyrian Text

Identification and Creation

Object Number

1983.103

Title

Fragment of Cuneiform Tablet: Old Assyrian Text

Classification

Tablets

Work Type

tablet

Date

c. 1900-1750 BCE

Period

Bronze Age, Middle

Culture

Assyrian

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/289227

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Clay

Technique

Impressed

Dimensions

1.9 x 4.8 x 1.5 cm (3/4 x 1 7/8 x 9/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

Nanette Rodney Kelekian, New York, formerly in the possession of her father Charles Dikran Kelekian; gift to Fogg Art Museum, 1983.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Nanette B. Rodney

Accession Year

1983

Object Number

1983.103

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Descriptions

Description

Fragment of clay tablet with cuneiform writing. The tablet is inscribed with faintly ruled lines of text written in the Old Assyrian dialect of the Akkadian language. This fragment represents only the upper most part of the tablet with just a few lines partially preserved on obverse and reverse surfaces. The tablet probably comes from the trading colony (karum) by the mound of Kültepe (ancient Kanesh) near Kaiseri in Cappadocia (central Anatolia).

Most of the text is broken and the contents are uncertain, but it does mention the name Aduda (obv. line 1) and refined [silver?] (obv. line 2) and may refer to a debt or transport of silver.

IMAGE: Top row, first on right.

Verification Level