1. Terminology and Sources

Dairy management in the Sargonic period (23^rd-22^nd c. BCE) is documented by some single documents, which are scattered across various cities, mainly Adab[geogr=Adab], Ĝirsu [geogr=Ĝirsu]and Umma [geogr=Umma]or of unknown provenience, and are mostly undated. Nonetheless, they offer sufficient data to track and establish the terminology of dairy products, which can vary locally from site to site.

A group named „cow herders“ (unu3), who are well known from various administrative texts from Adab (see Pomponio/Visicato 2015: 107-108 no. 181), delivered „butter“ (i3-nun[glossary=i3-nun]) and „sour milk cheese“ (ga’ara[glossary=ga’ara], ga-ara3[glossary=ga-ara3], e.g., CUSAS 26 104). Hence butter from cows’ milk is written in Sargonic Adab i3-nun, literally „princely oil, fat“, and can be abbreviated to i3[glossary=i3] „fat/oil“ (e. g. CUSAS 20 22). The texts also use the more specific term „cows‘ (milk) fat“ (i3 ab2[glossary=i3 ab2]) (e.g., CUSAS 13 187). There is no unequivocal evidence for dairy products from goat milk in Sargonic Adab.

Documents from Sargonic Umma and Ĝirsu distinguished between „cow’s (milk) fat“ (i3 ab2) and „(goat milk) butter“ (i3-nun ) (e.g., MCS 9 251, Umma; ITT 1 01474, Ĝirsu; see also Deimel 1926: 10).

The so-called archive of Šu-ilīšu from Umm el-Hafriyat[geogr=Umm el-Hafriyat] shows the use of i3-nun for „(goat’s milk) butter“ (e.g. CUSAS 27 21) but does not document butter from cows’ milk at all.

2. The Delivery Quotas of Dairy Products

There is little evidence for delivery quotas of herders in the Sargonic period. While there existed well-defined delivery quotas from both the preceding Presargonic and the following Ur III periods, the few available sources from the Sargonic period record very fluctuating relations between delivered quantities of „butter“ (i3[glossary=i3], i3 ab2[glossary=i3 ab2], i3-nun[glossary=i3-nun]) and of „sour milk cheese“ (ga’ara, ga-ara3[glossary=ga-ara3]) (see table below).

According to SEL 19 p. 5 no. 1, the central administration of Adab entrusted 37 „adult cows“ (ab2 ama) and 5 „three-years-old cows“ (ab2 3) to Ur-Ašgi. R. 2-3 of the tablet indicates how much butter and cheese he provided back to the administration („the cow’s (milk) fat has been placed (at disposal)“ i3 ab2 ĝar-ra-am3). According to the reconstruction of line r. 2 (SEL 19 p. 5 no. 1), Ur-Ašgi delivered 136 litres of „butter“ (i3) and 161 litres of „sour milk cheese“ (ga-ara3). 8.33 litres of butter and 22.2 litres of „sour milk cheese“ were „leftover“ (la2-ni). Hence the expected quota of butter amounts to 144.3 litres, i.e., 3.4 litres per adult cow; the expected quota of „sour milk cheese“ amounts to 183.2 litres, i.e., 4.4 litres per adult cow. Regardless of the exact correspondence of the Presargonic sila to the metric system¹In the Sargonic and Ur III periods, one sila corresponded to about one litre; in the Presargonic period, we cannot assume this ratio with any certainty (Powell 1990: 503–7). Englund (1995: 387) assumed that 1 sila corresponded in the Presargonic period to 1.5 litres., these Sargonic quotas are significantly lower than those documented in the Presargonic period (10 sila of butter and 18 sila of „sour milk cheese“ per cow per year) and even a little bit lower than those of the Ur III period (5 litres of butter and 7.5 litres of „sour milk cheese“ per cow per year). These quotas also indicate a relationship of 1:1.3.