Edgar J. Banks’ descriptions of the clay tablets as found in the letter dated June 2, 1939. It is important to note that Banks alludes to the fact that these descriptions are not to be taken literally, but merely represent the most complete and accurate information he was able to provide. Cuneiform clay tablet no. 1 (about 1 ½ x 1 ½ x ½”): “Found at Drehem, a suburb of Nippur, where there was a receiving station for the temple of Bel. This is a receipt for the delivery of 10 fat oxen, 88 sheep and 12 large goats on the 21st day of the month. On one edge of the tablet is written ‘10 oxen, 100 sheep,’ the total number of the animals. Sheep and goats always figure as sheep in the total number. The two lines on the back or rounded side contain the date, which is during the early part of the Ur dynasty of kings, 2400-2100 B.C., or about 2350 B.C.”

Cuneiform clay tablet no. [2] (about 1 x 1 x ½”): “A black broken tablet from Drehem with a record of sale of 1 Ox, killed for market (?). It might be called a butcher’s bill. The broken side contains a date, about 2350 B.C.”

Cuneiform clay tablet no. 4 (about 1 ½ x 1 ½ x ¼”): “Found at Jokha, the ruin of the ancient Umma in Central Babylonia. A record of the temple transactions. After the tablet was written, and while the clay was still soft, the temple scribe rolled over the entire tablet his cylindrical stone seal, and the seal impression made it impossible to change the record. The seal impression bears the figure of a seated deity and of a standing priest. It is dated on the back about 2300 B.C.”