DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17517680
title: Subsistence- and Tenant-Land Data in Ur III Umma Texts

description: Subsistence- and Tenant-Land Data in Ur III Umma Texts

Author: Andrew PottorfDate of release: November 3, 2025License: CC BY 4.0

 

Recommended Citation

APA format:

Pottorf, A. (2025). Subsistence- and Tenant-Land Data in Ur III Umma Texts [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17517681 

Chicago format:

Pottorf, Andrew. “Subsistence- and Tenant-Land Data in Ur III Umma Texts.” Zenodo, November 3, 2025. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17517681

If you use or refer to this dataset, please cite it as above and, when appropriate, also cite:

●      Pottorf 2022 (PhD dissertation) and Pottorf 2025 (for analytical and interpretive framework).

 

Abstract / Description

This dataset compiles quantitative and contextual data on subsistence (šuku) and tenant (apin-la₂) lands producing barley in Ur III Umma administrative texts. The data were assembled from all relevant tablets accessible up to early 2025. Each entry includes references to tablet editions, transliterations, and citations following BDTNS conventions, with occasional simplification for clarity.

Entries record land sizes (in iku ≈ 0.35 ha) and yields (in sila₃ ≈ 1 L) per iku, organized by gender, order (social status), and occupation of the individual landholder where identifiable. These data permit reconstruction of land-tenure structures, social hierarchy, and agricultural economics in the Umma province under the Third Dynasty of Ur.

 

Scope and Methodology

●      Corpus coverage: All known Ur III Umma cuneiform sources mentioning subsistence or tenant land searchable in BDTNS up to early 2025.

●      Transliteration standards: BDTNS, except where otherwise indicated. All Sumerian words are underlined.

●      Chronology and dating: Dates formatted per Pottorf 2022 (pp. 14–15).

●      Measurement units: Land = iku (≈ 0.35 ha); Yield = sila₃ (≈ 1 L) per iku.

●      Assumptions: Citizen vs. UN-il₂ status inferred from occupation and attested roles in comparative texts.

●      Limitations: Large-scale or domain-level records (e.g., MVN 21 341) excluded; governor/prince allotments (> 108 iku) omitted.

●      Uncertainties: Entries marked (?) when interpretation or restoration is uncertain; see dataset comments.

Future versions may extend coverage to non-barley crops, fallow fields, and linked prosopographic attestations.

 

Data Format

●      File type: CSV (UTF-8, tabular)

●      Primary fields:  Text, Date, Line(s), Gender, Order, Occupation (Sumerian), Occupation (English), Land Type, Size (in iku), Yield (in sila3/iku), Silver Tax (Tenant Land Only), Barley-Rent Rate (in sila3/iku) (Tenant Land Only), Number, Comment(s).

●      Source metadata: CDLI and BDTNS identifiers provided where available.

 

Acknowledgements

I thank Adam Anderson for guidance on FAIR-compliant data publication and repository best practices. I am grateful to the British Museum for permission to study and collate the tablets cited below.

 

Bibliography

Gomi, Tohru. 1985. "Kollationen zu den von T. Fish in Manchester Cuneiform Studies veröffentlichten neusumerischen Texten in Großbritannien, III." Orient 21:1–9.

Kraus, F. R. 1976. “Feldpachtverträge aus der Zeit der III. Dynastie von Ur.” WO 8.2:185–205.

Pottorf, Andrew Richard. 2022. “Social Stratification in Southern Mesopotamia during the Third Dynasty of Ur (ca. 2100–2000 BCE).” PhD diss., Harvard University.

———. 2025. “UN-il2 (‘Menials’) as a Serflike Social Stratum during the Ur III Period.” Pages 83–113 in Beyond Slavery and Freedom in Ancient Mesopotamia. Edited by Vitali Bartash and Andrew Pottorf. JANEH 12.1.

———. Forthcoming. “From the Ground Up: The Foundational Role of the Land-Tenure System for Social Stratification in Southern Mesopotamia during the Ur III Period.” In Concepts of Governance and the Study of Ancient Near Eastern Societies. Edited by Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum, Jörg Klinger, and Aron Dornauer. Melammu Symposia 16. Vienna: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften.

Sharlach, T. M. 2008. “Priestesses, Concubines, and the Daughters of Men: Disentangling the Meaning of the Word lukur in Ur III Times.” Pages 177–83 in On the Third Dynasty of Ur: Studies in Honor of Marcel Sigrist. Edited by Piotr Michalowski. JCS SS 1. Boston: American Schools of Oriental Research.

 

Versioning and Future Updates

●      Version 1 (November 3, 2025): Initial public release.

●      Planned Version 2 will include cross-linked attestations, inferred order data, and extended crop categories.

●      The most current version will always be available via the Zenodo DOI landing page.

 

Keywords

Ur III period • Umma • Sumerian • Land tenure • Subsistence land • Tenant land • Agricultural records • Mesopotamia • Cuneiform • Prosopography • Social stratification • BDTNS • CDLI

 

Contact

Andrew Pottorf 📧 apottorf21@gmail.com ORCID: 0000-0002-7842-5979