Commercial Record-Keeping in Ancient Mesopotamia.

Abstract The purpose of this article is to present a much-abbreviated summary of the types of records kept by the ancient Mesopotamian people. This purpose is accomplished by the presentation of appropriate tablet translations. Admittedly, much faith has been placed in the translating skill of archeological experts, but the author of this article has painstakingly compared hundreds of translations and only the typical, semi-standard ones are presented here. The ancient Mesopotamian record-keeping system was a very simple system based mostly upon receipts, expenditures, listings, and contracts. Receipts tablets had to be prepared whenever any money or goods were received in the temple, in the palace, or in private businesses, even if it meant going to the expense of calling in a public scribe to record a single, small transaction. Internal movements and inventories of these items had to be duly recorded, as did the final use or expenditure. The translations in this article are merely illustrative, not exhaustive.