Kushim (individual)

Kushim is the earliest known example of a named person in writing. The name "Kushim" is found on the Kushim Tablet, an Uruk Period (c. 3400–3000 BC) clay tablet used to record transactions of ingredients used in beer. It is uncertain if the name refers to an individual, a generic title of an officeholder, or an institution.

Uruk Period tablets

Writing in the ancient Sumerian city Uruk was time-consuming and literacy was likely limited at the time. Therefore, writing was mainly used for essential record-keeping.[1] The "Kushim Tablet" is a clay tablet detailing a trade transaction and one of the first examples of rebus writing.[2] It reads "29,086 measures barley 37 months Kushim." This may be interpreted as having been signed by "Kushim."[1][3] Kushim's name appears in 18 separate clay tablets from the period.[4]

Another Uruk Period clay tablet that featured names dating back to around 3100 B.C. includes the names of a slave owner (Gal-Sal) and their two slaves (En-pap X and Sukkalgir). This tablet was likely produced one or two generations after the Kushim Tablet.[5]

Identity

Kushim is believed to have been either an individual or a generic title of an officeholder. The cuneiform characters "KU" and "ŠIM" were not presented with much context, and therefore it is difficult to determine whether such sign combinations denote an individual, their office, or an entire institution.[6] Kushim was responsible for the production and storage of beer. Some of the tablets charge the distribution of barley to several officials as various debits, with the summation on the reverse as a single credit for the discharge of Kushim's liability. One relatively simple account shows the charging of various amounts of barley to three officials on the obverse, while Kushim was credited for the total amount distributed to the officials on the reverse. However, the reverse could also be interpreted as Kushim's account. Other tablets are more intricate, showing the input of various ingredients on the obverse (malt, hobs, 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 he was properly discharged.[4]

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See also

References
  1. Harari, Yuval Noah. "Signed, Kushim". Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. p. 30.
  2. "The Birth of Writing: The Kushim Tablet". coursethreads.berkeley.edu. University of Berkeley. Archived from the original on 2016-10-11.
  3. Badenhorst, Francois (2015-08-20). "Meet Kushim, the accountant from ancient Sumer". Accountingweb.org.
  4. Mattessich, Richard (2000). The Beginnings of Accounting and Accounting Thought: Accounting Practice in the Middle East (8000 B.C to 2000 B.C.) and Accounting Thought in India. Routledge. p. 105–106. ISBN 9780815334453.
  5. Krulwich, Robert (2015-08-19). "Who's the First Person in History Whose Name We Know?". National Geographic.
  6. Nissen, Hans J.; Damerow, Peter; Englund, Robert K. (1993). Archaic Bookkeeping: Early Writing and Techniques of Economic Administration in the Ancient Near East. University of Chicago Press. p. 36. ISBN 9780226586595.
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