“Unearthed 5,000-Year-Old Beer Receipt Reveals Secrets of Ancient Sumer and the World’s First Signature!”
Symbols on the top left corner of the tablet — the supposed signature — translate as ‘KU’ and ‘SIM’ which experts have interpreted as spelling the name ‘Kushim.’ The name was possibly that of a government scribe who created the recording on the clay tablet for administrative purposes.
However, others suspect ‘Kushim’ could be the name of a government agency or title rather than a specific individual. The inscribed name has been found in 17 other tablets. On some of them, the name is addressed as ‘Sanga’ or temple administrator.
MODSite of the ancient city of Uruk where the Sumerian tablet was found.
Israeli author Y. N. Harari, who wrote the historical book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, noted that the inscription on the ancient tablet reads “29,086 measures barley 37 months Kushim.”
The etching has been interpreted as some sort of receipt for the purchase of barley which was commonly used to brew Sumerian beer. Other symbols on the tablet depict the industrial process of beer brewing using barley or corn up until it becomes a jar of beer.
The process appears to take place in a temple in ancient Mesopotamia around 3,100 B.C., dating the tablet back to 5,000 years ago.
As part of a private collection, the historical artifact which measures three-by-three inches was sold in an auction under Bloomsbury Auctions, an auction house based in London, U.K. A wealthy American collector purchased the ancient Sumerian tablet for $230,000 in August 2020.
“One only gets a few chances to work with any item of such importance, marking a milestone in perhaps the most important human invention – writing,” said Timothy Bolton, a specialist at Bloomsbury Auctions.
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