Circa 1900 BC A large rectangular Babylonian clay cuneiform tablet inscribed with fourteen names. Possibly the record of names of a trial. Clay cuneiform tablets were small enough to be portable and durable when dried, clay tablets allowed for the transmission of information across time and space. Although different types of scrips and languages could be impressed into the clay using a reed stylus. This method of writing was most often used to create texts in the cuneiform script and Akkadian language. For reading: E. Sollberger, 'New Lists of the Kings of Ur and Isin', Journal of Cuneiform Studies 8, 1954, pp.135-6. A.H. Grayson, King List 2, 'Königlisten und Chroniken' Reallexicon der Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archaeologie, Berlin, 1980, p. 90. K Lippincott (ed.), with Umberto Eco & E.H. Gombrich, The Story of Time, London, 1999, p.255. Size: L:430mm / W:100mm ; 1.6kg. Provenance: From the important collection of a London doctor A.R; passed by descent to his son; formerly acquired between 1970-2000. Big parts of the collection were studied/published by Professor Lambert in the early 1990s.