A discovery in southern Iraq has given us a rare glimpse into the world of ancient bureaucracy. Researchers from the British Museum and Iraq have unearthed over 200 clay cuneiform tablets and 60 seals, offering a detailed record of the early Akkadian empire.
These 4,000-year-old tablets, uncovered at the ancient Sumerian city of Girsu (modern-day Tello), reveal everything from the mundane to the monumental: barley rations, livestock transactions, and even the death of a sheep at the empire's fringes.
