Kushim (Uruk period)

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An illustration of the proto-cuneiform "Kushim" as seen on some ancient Sumerian clay tablets.
A Sumerian clay tablet potentially signed by Kushim in the upper left corner. Not the more well known "Kushim Tablet"

Kushim (Sumerian: 𒆪𒋆 KU.ŠIM) is supposedly the earliest known recorded name of a person in writing. The name "Kushim" is found on several Uruk period (c. 3400–3000 BC) clay tablets used to record transactions of barley. It is uncertain if the name refers to an individual, a generic title of an officeholder, or an institution.

Uruk period tablets

Writing in ancient

rebus writing.[2] It reads "29,086 measures barley 37 months Kushim." This may be interpreted as having been signed by "Kushim."[1][3] As of 1993, Kushim's name was known to appear in 18 separate Proto-cuneiform clay tablets from the period.[4][5]

Another Uruk period clay tablet that featured names dating back to around 3100 BC includes the names of a slave owner (Gal-Sal) and Gal-Sal's two slaves (En-pap X and the woman Sukkalgir). This tablet was likely produced one or two generations after the Kushim Tablet.[6]

Identity

Kushim is believed to have been either an individual or a generic title of an officeholder. The

dates, etc.), while showing different kinds of beer as output on the reverse side. One tablet shows Kushim providing 14,712 liters of barley to four officials, for which they were properly discharged.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7710-8351-8
    .
  2. OCLC 71846562
    .
  3. ^ Badenhorst, Francois (2015-08-20). "Meet Kushim, the accountant from ancient Sumer". Accountingweb.org.
  4. ^
    ISBN 0-8153-3445-1
    .
  5. ^ Mattessich, Richard, "Recent insights into mesopotamian accounting of the 3rd millennium B.C.-successor to token accounting", The Accounting Historians Journal, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 1–27, 1998
  6. ^ Krulwich, Robert (2015-08-19). "Who's the First Person in History Whose Name We Know?". National Geographic. Archived from the original on July 7, 2018.
  7. ISBN 0-226-58659-6
    .

External links
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