Word lists (‘lexical lists’) were used to train scribes in writing (Civil 1995 ) and are
also among the first text genres (Englund 1998 : 82 – 110 ). Lexical texts enumerate and
classify all ‘natural and cultural entities’ (Civil 1995 : 2305 ). Among the earliest word lists
are the list of professions, animals (pigs, fish, cattle) or other objects (wood, vessels,
etc.). Some of the lists that are already known from proto-cuneiform texts, such as one
of the lists of professions, were transmitted for more than a thousand years, even if they
were not properly understood anymore.
The earliest literary texts did not appear until about six hundred years after writing
was invented. Most of the very early literature is concerned with religion, praising
deities and temples. However, the bulk of Sumerian literary texts date to the Old
Babylonian period (c. 1800 BC). Among the literary texts that have been popular sources
for the reconstruction of history are the Royal Correspondence of Ur (Michalowski
2011 b) and the Sumerian Kinglist (Jacobsen 1939 ; Steinkeller 2003 ). Although literary
texts sometimes describe historical events, their use as primary sources for the
reconstruction of history has been heavily critiqued (Liverani 1993 b; Rubio 2007 :
23 – 26 ; Michalowski 2011 b).
Royal inscriptions represent another important genre of the time periods described
here. They are sometimes also called ‘monumental inscriptions’ (Hallo 1962 ) because
they were inscribed upon objects (‘monuments’ in the widest sense). These inscrip-
tions, which were written in the name of kings, or sometimes members of the royal
family or other members of the elite, were either placed on architectural elements, such
as bricks, clay nails, or clay cones, or on votive offerings for deities, such a stone vases,
statues, or other precious objects. Some inscriptions were placed on stelae, possibly for
public display (Cooper 1983 a: 12 ), although it is unclear how many people would have
been able to read the inscriptions. Some inscriptions only contain the name of a king,
while other inscriptions, in particular of the later periods, can be long and include some
narrations of events.
Legal texts, such as sale or loan documents, often show a list of witnesses to the
transaction. They are also important sources for the study of socio-economic history.
In addition, there are the so-called ‘law collections’ (Roth 1997 ), a mixture between
royal inscriptions and legal pronouncements that modern scholars like to identify as
‘laws’.
None of the text genres mentioned here can be identified as historiographic litera-
ture in the strictest sense, although they may contain some, very limited information
that will help in reconstructing history. Although a recent contribution on histori-
ography seeks to redefine common conceptions of what historiography of early
Mesopotamia is (Michalowski 2011 a), it does not detract from the fact that most of
the earliest texts were not only highly abbreviated, and thus rather enigmatic to the
modern reader, but were also not composed to offer historically accurate information
for future generations. Moreover, the textual evidence was part of the sphere of ancient
elites. Thus, texts offer information on non-elite populations only as far as their spheres
overlap. It is therefore important to recognize that our textual documentation for
reconstructing this earliest history of ancient Mesopotamia is rather tenuous and
biased.
An overview article such as the one presented here is necessarily abbreviated and many
important contributions cannot be acknowledged. Writing on early Mesopotamian
history poses a difficult task insofar as the sources are so varied and only attested for brief
–– History and chronology ––