Anthropology

The administrative tablets give a rare insight into ancient bureaucracy

Bryony Gooch
Sunday 16 March 2025 14:57 GMT



Tablets found by the British Museum and Iraq government’s State Board of Antiquities and Heritage give a new insight into ancient civilisation

Ellie Atkins/British Museum2023

Red tape may feel like a modern-day frustration, but according to archaeologists, it's been a part of governance for millennia. Evidence from ancient Mesopotamia reveals that bureaucratic systems were in place as far back as 4,000 years ago.

Over 200 administrative tablets and around 50 cylinder seal impressions of Akkadian administrators have been uncovered by archaeologists from the British Museum and Iraq's State Board of Antiquities and Heritage, shedding light on the early foundations of government bureaucracy.

The texts reveal a complex bureaucracy that went into running the ancient civilisation.
These were the state archives of the ancient Sumerian site of Girsu, in modern-day Tello, while the city was controlled by the Akkad dynasty from 2300 to 2150BC.

More:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/stone-tablet-girsu-project-red-tape-british-museum-iraq-b2716045.html