This dossier documents the management of dairy products in Ur[geogr=Ur] during the Ur III period (21st c. BCE). As in Umma and Ĝirsu, dairy products were processed essentially from „cow’s“ (ab2) and/or „goat’s“ (ud5) milk. Dairy management in Ur centred on the same two main products as in Umma and Ĝirsu, i.e. „butter“ (i3-nun[glossary=i3-nun]) and „sour milk cheese“ (ga-ara3[glossary=ga-ara3]) (Englund 1995: 415; Dossier A.2.1.02). The cow herders had to deliver the same fixed quota of these two products to the provincial administration as already documented in Umma, i.e., 5 litres of butter and 7.5 litres of „sour milk cheese“ per (adult) cow per year. Unfortunately, the sources do not provide data on the delivery quotas of dairy products from goats‘ milk.
1. Delivery Quotas of Dairy Products
The documents registering the deliveries of dairy products by the herdsmen represent – as in Umma and Ĝirsu – the most important sources for „butter“ (i3-nun) and „sour milk cheese“ (ga-ara3). These obligations were fulfilled by defined quotas of these two main products and were monitored in balanced accounts; e. g. „balanced account on (dairy) fat and cheese of the cow herders“ (niĝ2-ka9-aka i3 ga / unu3-e-ne, UET 3 1216). As in Umma, there is a constant relationship of 2:3 between the two main dairy products „butter“ (i3-nun) and „sour milk cheese“ (ga-ara3)1 except for UET 3 1214, see below; compare the 1:1 relation attested in Ĝirsu, Dossier A.2.1.03.. „Butter“ (i3-nun) and „sour milk cheese“ (ga-ara3) thus functioned as benchmarks for the bookkeeping in Ur as well (Englund 1995: 415).
Ur „cattle herders“ (unu3) were due to deliver the equivalent of 5 litres of „butter“ (i3-nun) and 7.5 litres of „sour milk cheese“ (ga-ara3) per „adult cow“ (ab2 maḫ2) per year (UET 3 1215; UET 3 1216; UET 9 1103) (Englund 1995: 14), as already documented for Umma (Dossier A.2.1.02). Only one text (UET 3 1214, [XX.XX].00.00) documents a different quota per adult cow (ab2-maḫ2) per year that deviates from the norm, namely 5 litres of both dairy products butter (i3-nun) and “sour milk cheese” (ga-ara3) (Gomi 1980: 14 fn. 17). Gomi (1980) showed that these quotas could hardly be met by Ur cow herders. Thus he concluded that in Ur dairy productivity decreased significantly during the reign of Ibbi-Suen with respect to dairy productivity documented in Umma or Ĝirsu [geogr=Ĝirsu]a few years before.
Five balanced accounts register the amount of fermented milk delivered by the herders, and they convert it into correspondent amounts of both butter and cheese, the two main products used as benchmarks for the bookkeeping (UET 3 1215; UET 3 1216; UET 3 1214; UET 9 1103; UET 9 1026). The final subscript is not preserved for each of these texts, but because of their structure, they are nevertheless all to be considered balanced accounts. According to these balanced accounts, a specific amount of „fermented milk“ (ga-se12-a[glossary=ga-se12-a]) equalled a quantity of „butter“ (i3-nun) corresponding to 6.5-6.6 % of the milk volume and a quantity of „sour milk cheese“ (ga-ara3) corresponding to 9.9-10 % of the milk volume. In the case of the Umma[geogr=Umma] and Irisaĝrig [geogr=Irisaĝrig]documentation, this conversion originated from an administrative need but reflected empirical values. If we consider the conversion of the balanced accounts from Ur as empirical values as well, then we get higher yielding rates of respectively 1.5 % of the milk volume for butter and 2.5 % of the milk volume for „sour milk cheese“, meaning that out of a specific amount of fermented milk Ur herders were expected to obtain more butter and more cheese than attested elsewhere (see Gomi 1980: 21 fn. 25; compare different yield rates in Umma and Irisaĝrig: 5 % for butter and 7.5 % for „sour milk cheese“, Dossier A.2.1.02). The reason for this difference is less likely to reflect a change in the manufacturing process that would increase the fat percentage of the starting product ga-se12-a/ga-še-a or a new breeding strategy that would allow the animals to produce milk with a higher percentage of fat. Instead, it is possible that the central administration in Ur artificially increased the expected production rates, eventually requiring the herders to process higher quantities of milk than officially recorded, possibly to face the decreased productivity of the cow herders (and possibly a consequent shortage of products) documented for the later years of Ibbi-Suen’s reign in Ur (Gomi 1980). Otherwise – but this is also quite unlikely – the herders in Ur might have delivered butter and „sour milk cheese“ with a higher percentage of moisture (likely resulting in a lower quality of the products). Be it as it may, these remain only speculations and need to be verified should more sources become available in the future.
Two texts register „cream“ (gara2) and „sour milk“ (ga-se12-a) together with „butter“ (i3-nun) and „sour milk cheese“ (ga-ara3) as delivery quotas of dairy products from „cow herders“ (unu3) (UET 3 1220, UET 3 1067). As an intermediate product of butter manufacturing (Dossier A.2.1.01 Stage 1 and 2.1), „cream“ (gara2) occurs very rarely and generally in low quantities (0.3 to max. 2.3 litres in UET 3 1220 and UET 3 1067). In the Presargonic period, cream instead constituted a delicacy that was often offered to the deities (e. g. DP 53). Hence herders had to fulfil the delivery quotas not only with „butter“ (i3-nun) and „sour milk cheese“ (ga-murub4[glossary=ga-murub4]), but also with equivalent quantities of „sour milk“ (ga-še-a[glossary=ga-še-a]/ga-se12-a[glossary=ga-se12-a]) (e.g. UET 9 0829) or other dairy products like „cream“ (gara2) (e. g. UET 3 1220). Likewise, they could also pay the corresponding amount of silver (e. g. UET 3 1198).
There is no document from Ur providing data on the delivery quotas of dairy products by „goat herders“ (sipa ud5) (Gomi 1980: 6).
2. Dairy Products From Cow’s Milk in Ur: A Quantitative Assessment
The largest quantity of dairy products from cows’ milk is registered in a delivery record of various „cow herder“ (unu3) (UET 3 1220, [XX.XX].00.00). It lists 1,831.5 litres of „butter“ (i3-nun), 1,837 litres of „sour milk cheese“ (ga-ara3), 2.3 litres of „cream“ (gara2[glossary=gara2]) and 30 litres of „fermented milk“ (ga-se12-a) as „incoming delivery to the Ĝanunmaḫ“ (mu-kux ga-nun-maḫ-še3) by Lukalla, „cow herder“ (unu3). The text does not mention the number of cows engaged in primary milk production. Hence we can only estimate it according to the annual delivery quotas of dairy products attested in other contemporary sources from Ur. Dividing the total amount of butter and cheese by the annual delivery quotas of 5 litres of „butter“ (i3-nun) and 7.5 litres of „sour milk cheese“ (ga-ara3) per „adult cow“ (ab2 maḫ2), we obtain two different numbers of adult cows involved in the primary milk production. If we instead apply the quota of 5 litres of both butter and cheese per cow per year, then we obtain an almost even number of 367 cows at least involved in the primary milk production.
Unfortunately, the sources from Ur that document the dairy production and/or the herds‘ composition are not well preserved and do not offer enough data to estimate the total number of adult cows held in the province of Ur in the Ur III period (see the sources analysed by Gomi 1980: 6, 21). The highest number of adult cows registered together with their dairy production amounts to 165 according to the reconstruction of a list of dairy deliveries by various cow herders in the year Ibbi-Suen 7 (UET 9 1103; Gomi 1980: 36-40). Therefore we cannot estimate the annual deliveries of dairy products from cow herders in the province of Ur.