BM 110450, a scratch pad on a clod of clay?

Christine Proust (1)

1 SPHERE (UMR_7219) - Sciences, Philosophie, Histoire

At first sight Tablet BM 110450 is not spectacular. The aspect of the edges gives the impression that a small rectangular tablet has been folded in two or three layers and crushed to form an oblong block with a flat side, say the obverse, and a convex side, say the reverse. On the reverse, a round depression might indicate that the block of clay was intended to be reused as a candle holder, according to Christopher Walker. The surface of the obverse exhibits traces of erasure and signs partially erased. Above these erasures, two lines of numerical signs are inscribed. This inscription is of high interest because it employs the same graphical system as notations found in the margins of administrative texts from the Ur III period that we studied with Xiaoli Ouyang (Ouyang Proust forthcoming). This graphical system is neither that found in the Ur III or OB administrative texts, nor that found in mathematical texts, but specific to "scratch pads".

Mots clés: Ur III; Sexagesimal place value notation; cuneiform mathematics; scratch pad

Domaines: Histoire, Philosophie et Sociologie des sciences; Histoire et perspectives sur les mathématiques [math.HO]; Histoire

Christine Proust. BM 110450, a scratch pad on a clod of clay?. Notes Assyriologiques Brèves et Utilitaires, 2017, 2017 (2), pp.59-62. ⟨hal-01580900v3⟩