Administration and Economy in Early Babylonian Society: The Cuneiform Texts from the Ur III Period in the University of Notre Dame Theodore M. Hesburgh Library (Oxford Editions of Cuneiform Texts)

Administration and Economy in Early Babylonian Society presents an analytical edition of 65 previously unpublished cuneiform tablets and bullae from the Ur III period (2112-2004 BC), currently held in the Theodore M.Hesburgh Library at the University of Notre Dame. Carefully transliterated, translated, and annotated, these texts are made available for the first time, offering fresh material for research not only in Ur III studies and Assyriology but also in economic history, social anthropology, and the study of early bureaucratic systems. The tablets provide detailed records of Ur III administrative practices, economic organization, and daily operations.They cover agricultural management, including field maintenance, irrigation systems, and the production of crops from orchards and date groves.Additional documents shed light on livestock administration, craft production, labour allocation (including lists of workers and their supervisors), food preparation, and the transportation of g