It's the 'First Material Evidence' of World's First Empire

Archaeologists say they've found "the very first material evidence of the very first empire in the world" in 4,000-year-old cuneiform tablets unearthed in Iraq. More than 200 administrative tablets have been discovered in the ancient megacity of Girsu, now Tello, along with some 50 administrative seals, per the Independent. They date from 2300BC, when Girsu and other independent Sumerian cities were conquered by Sargon of Akkad. The Akkadians, believed to have come from near modern Baghdad, succeeded in uniting Akkadian and Sumerian speakers in Mesopotamia under what's widely considered the world's first empire, which stood for 150 years. The artifacts reveal the early foundations of bureaucracy at that time.

Found within a state archive building constructed of mud bricks, the tablets are nothing if not thorough. They contain detailed accounts of state affairs, building plans, and purchases and deliveries of gold, silver, bread, beer, cheese, cattle, fish, flour, barley, and textiles, among other items. There are also lists of the names and professions of citizens—including the important job of sweeper of the temple floor, per the Guardian. "They note absolutely everything down. If a sheep dies at the very edge of the empire, it will be noted," Sebastien Rey, curator for the ancient Mesopotamia section of the British Museum and director of the Girsu Project, tells the outlet, noting that bureaucracy was a kind of obsession for the Akkadians.

But until now, researchers had only limited information on the empire, stemming from fragmented royal inscriptions or unreliable copies, says Rey. "For the first time, we have concrete evidence—with artifacts in situ," he tells the Guardian. "These are the spreadsheets of empire ... the real evidence of the imperial control and how it actually worked." The evidence reveals "women held important offices within the state ... although it was a society very much led by men," adds Rey. Archaeologists from the British Museum and Iraq's State Board of Antiquities and Heritage hope to learn more when the tablets, destined for the Iraq Museum in Baghdad, can be transcribed after careful cleaning. (More discoveries stories.)