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Finding Aid for the Cumberland Clark Cuneiform Tablet collection, Old Babylonian Period (ca. 2000-1600 BCE)
1826
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Title: Cumberland Clark Cuneiform Tablet collection
Date (inclusive): Old Babylonian Period (ca. 2000-1600 BCE)
Collection number: 1826
Creator:
Anonymous.
Extent:
4 oversize boxes.
Abstract: Twenty-five cuneiform tablets from the ancient Mesopotamian school environment called eduba (literally, "house of tablets")
and includes examples ranging from simple sign exercises to advanced Sumerian literary exercises. The majority of the texts
come from the Old Babylonian period, which began after the fall of the Third Dynasty of Ur (ca. 2000 BCE) and continued until
the Hittites conquered Babylon in 1595 BCE.
Language: Finding aid is written in
English.
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Department of Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library, Department
of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Library, Department
of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library,
Department of Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of
the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the
copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC
Regents do not hold the copyright.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Anonymous gift, 2007.
Processed by Sara Brumfield in the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT), with assistance from Kelley Wolfe Bachli,
2008.
[Identification of item], Cumberland Clark Cuneiform Tablet collection (Collection Number 1826). Department of Special Collections,
Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.
The collection of 25 cuneiform tablets were donated in 2007 by an anonymous donor who wished to name the collection after
Cumberland Clark.
While the exact provenience of this collection is unknown, it has been established that the corpus of texts came from an ancient
Mesopotamian school environment called an
eduba (literally, "house of tablets"). It was at the
eduba that scribes received their training in the scribal arts. A student would train from early childhood to adulthood to become
a
dubsar (literally, "tablet writer"). Their curriculum, as represented in this collection, was comprised of learning sign formations,
copying lexical lists, learning mathematics, and popular epics of the Mesopotamian culture.
The majority of the texts come from the Old Babylonian period, which began after the fall of the Third Dynasty of Ur (c. 2000
BCE) and continued until the Hittites conquered Babylon in 1595 BCE. Most of the Old Babylonian period was spent in political
fragmentation, which created smaller independent scribal traditions at different cities. Only under the reign of King Hammurabi
(c. 1795-1750 BCE) was there a degree of centralization. This political environment had a direct impact on the scribal curriculum
as a uniform course of instruction would indicate a state-run school, whereas a variegated curriculum would seem to refer
to privately run schools.
It is within this context that the Cumberland Clark Cuneiform Tablet Collection exists. The content of the texts suggests
significant editing of previously standardized lexical lists and literary passages. However, the general pattern and progression
of instruction remain constant as the collection exhibits examples from the simplest sign exercises to advanced Sumerian literary
exercises.
Twenty-five cuneiform tablets from the ancient Mesopotamian school environment called
eduba (literally, "house of tablets") and includes examples ranging from simple sign exercises to advanced Sumerian literary exercises.
The majority of the texts come from the Old Babylonian period, which began after the fall of the Third Dynasty of Ur (ca.
2000 BCE) and continued until the Hittites conquered Babylon in 1595 BCE.
Tablets are described at the item level.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Cuneiform tablets.
Edward A. Dickson Cuneiform Tablet collection (Collection 1813) . Department of Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.