5.2.2 It was possible to take a child for rearing (nam-bulug-“è) with-
out adopting it, as NG 27 shows.5.2.3 Adoption by one woman of another as her sister (nam-nin-
“è) is attested in NG 211:61–65.^84- P I
6.1 Tenure
Since there is no evidence of the sale of arable land (as opposed to
orchards, urban land, slaves, and animals)^85 for this period, the con-
clusion might be reached that either the state owned all the land
through its network of institutional estates or that the sale of arable
land was forbidden.^86 In practice, a distinction must be drawn between
the situation prevailing south of Nippur (land of Sumer proper),
where the great institutional estates, if not having a complete monop-
oly of land and the means of production, were certainly predomi-
nant, and that observable in the north (land of Akkad), where the
private sector seems to have been more developed, while institutional
estates were of little importance.^87 The contrast arises from the
different ecology of the two regions rather than from any “ethnic”
basis (i.e., Sumerians v. Akkadians).^88
On the estates, as the archives show, arable land was divided into
three categories:^89- “Ox-lands” (gán-gu 4 ), cultivated and managed on a system of direct
exploitation, using the estate’s own personnel and equipment. They
were intended principally to satisfy the internal needs of the estate. - “Prebend lands” (gán-“uku-ra), periodically allotted to dignitaries
and other persons permanently connected with the estate, which
they held in lieu of remuneration. The size of the allotment depended
(^84) See Greengus, “Old Babylonian.. .,” 531, n. 135. In NSG, Falkenstein wrongly
corrected the text to nam-dam!-“è (“marriage”).
(^85) See the documents in Steinkeller, Sale...
(^86) Neumann, “Zur privaten Geschäftstätigkeit.. .,” 164–66; Steinkeller, Sale...,
127–28.
(^87) Gelb, Steinkeller, Whiting, Earliest Land.. .; Liverani, “Lower Mesopotamia.. .”;
Steinkeller, “Land-Tenure...”
(^88) Steinkeller, “Land-Tenure...”
(^89) See, e.g., Zettler, Ur III Temple.. ., 116–32; de Maaijer, “Land Tenure...”
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