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Ur III Umma silver-shekel reckoning

Cripps distinguishes Girsu institutional barley accounting from Umma merchant silver accounting.1

Years
Under research
Where
West & Central Asia
Family
Other origins
Status
Under research

Umma account MVN1,240 values72gur of dates at one mina of silver and30gur of barley at two-thirds mina, includes other goods in silver, and totals debits in silver minas and shekels.2

The same document records a debit assigned to Lu-Ninshubur, an account credit in silver, and a concluding expenditure total and deficit, establishing monetary accounting beyond mere weighed-silver inventory.3

Cripps distinguishes Girsu institutional barley accounting from Umma merchant silver accounting. Shared exchange calculations do not make these a chronological succession or a single universal Mesopotamian currency.1

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Legal history and sources

Umma account MVN1,240 values72gur of dates at one mina of silver and30gur of barley at two-thirds mina, includes other goods in silver, and totals debits in silver minas and shekels.2

The same document records a debit assigned to Lu-Ninshubur, an account credit in silver, and a concluding expenditure total and deficit, establishing monetary accounting beyond mere weighed-silver inventory.3

Cripps distinguishes Girsu institutional barley accounting from Umma merchant silver accounting. Shared exchange calculations do not make these a chronological succession or a single universal Mesopotamian currency.1

Source notes

  1. Eric L. Cripps · The Structure of Prices in the Neo-Sumerian Economy(I): Barley:Silver Price Ratios, CDLJ 2017:2

    §§9.4–9.6

  2. Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative; Giovanni Pettinato and Hartmut Waetzoldt, original edition 1974 · MVN1,240, Umma silver account of Ur-Dumuzida, CDLI P 113273

    Obv.i5–12; ii1–7

  3. Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative; Giovanni Pettinato and Hartmut Waetzoldt, original edition 1974 · MVN1,240, Umma silver account of Ur-Dumuzida, CDLI P 113273

    Rev.i7–9; rev.ii1–6

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Cite this currency

“Ur III Umma silver-shekel reckoning.” The Family Tree of Money. Field Technologies, Inc. Data v49; accessed 14 October 2026.

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