This dossier documents the management of dairy products in the province of Ĝirsu[geogr=Ĝirsu] during the Ur III period (21^st c. BCE). As in Umma and Ur, dairy products were processed essentially from „cow’s“ (ab2) or „goat’s“ (ud5) milk. Dairy management in Ĝirsu centred on the same two products as in Umma and Ur: „butter“ (i3-nun[glossary=i3-nun]) and „sour milk cheese“ (ga-ara3[glossary=ga-ara3]) (Englund 1995: 415), but with a constant relation of 1:1 between butter and cheese. With 0.3 or 0.5 litres of both butter and „sour milk cheese“ per goat per year, the delivery quotas due by the herders to the provincial administration of Ĝirsu differ from those in Umma or Ur, where the relationship between these two main products was 2:3 (Dossier A.2.1.02, Dossier A.2.1.04).

1. Delivery quotas of dairy products

As in Umma[geogr=Umma], also in Ĝirsu, the documents registering the deliveries of dairy products by the herdsmen represent the most important sources of „butter“ (i3-nun) and „sour milk cheese“ (ga-ara3). These obligations were fulfilled by defined quotas of these two main products as „butter“ (i3-nun) and „sour milk cheese“ (ga-ara3) functioned as benchmarks for the bookkeeping like in Umma and Ur (Englund 1995: 415). The management of these products is reflected on specific records (see below table 1) and, differently than for Umma, hardly any annual balanced accounts of dairy management are available from Ĝirsu.

Differently than Umma (Dossier A.2.1.02) and Ur[geogr=Ur] (Dossier A.2.1.04), in Ĝirsu, there is a constant relationship of 1:1 between the two main dairy products „butter“ (i3-nun) and „sour milk cheese“ (ga-ara3). Ĝirsu „(goat) herders“ (sipa ud5, na-gada) were due to deliver 0.3 litres or 0.5 litres of both „butter“ (i3-nun) and „sour milk cheese“ (ga-ara3) per „nanny goat“ (ud5) per year (CDLI P210056; PDT 2 0947; see Englund 1995: 382 fn. 12, 398 fn. 45, 401 fn. 49, 420 fn. 78) (compare different quotas in Umma, Dossier A.2.1.02). Whereas the delivery quotas of the goat herders are well known, no sources from Ĝirsu allow calculating the delivery quotas of the cow herders.

There are a few texts from Ĝirsu that document particular transactions involving „butter“ (i3-nun) and „sour milk cheese“ (ga-ara3) from cows’ and goats’ milk of the whole province (e.g. CT 05 25 BM 018346, Šu.47.00.00) or of a specific individual (TCTI 1 00878, Šu.46.00.00). These sources feature the following (final) subscript: „the cows’/goats’ fat (has been) settled“ (i3 ab2[glossary=i3 ab2] ((ba)-ĝar-ra), i3 ud5[glossary=i3 ud5](-da ĝar-ra)), where the verb ĝar „to settle“ features the administrative meaning of „to settle on the account of …“. According to Englund (1995: 382 fn. 12), this subscript designated the „norm“ for the annual quotas per adult cow or nanny goat. As illustrated in the following table, they rather document the quota of butter and cheese due by each herder to the provincial administration.

These documents never indicate the number of cows and goats involved in the primary milk production, and hence we cannot calculate the expected quotas of dairy products per animal per year (pace Englund 1995: 382 fn. 12, 386-388, 401 fn. 49) (PPAC 5 0610; CT 07 34 BM 018407; CT 05 25 BM 018346; ITT 4 07311; TCTI 1 00878). Few labels for tablet baskets reveal that these documents were stored together (ITT 2, 03391, IS.01.00.00: „tablet basket: cows (and) goats in stock as well as settled cows‘ (and) goats‘ fat. It is present“ bešeĝ dub-ba ab2 ud5 gub-ba u3 i3 ab2 ud5-da ĝar-ra i3-ĝal2; MVN 11, R, Šu.48.00.00; ITT 5, 09867, 00.00.00.00).

Notwithstanding the lack of data about the number of animals involved in primary milk production and the lack of sources about the quotas from the cow herders, Englund (1995: 382 fn. 12, 387) suggested that Ĝirsu „cattle herders“ (unu3) were due to deliver to the provincial administration the equivalent of 10 litres each of „butter“ (i3-nun) and „sour milk cheese“ (ga-ara3) per „adult cow“ (ab2 maḫ2) per year. These amounts „would represent the full milk production of those adult cows suckling calves, since 15 litres of butter oil can be processed from 300-400 litres of milk, dependent on the fat content of the milk and water content of the butter oil“(Englund 1995: 388). However, as already stated in the case of the Umma herders, there is no possibility to estimate how much cow milk was left to the cow herders after the rearing of the calf, nor how much goat milk was available to the goat herders at all.

Ĝirsu herders were to fulfil the required delivery quotas either with „butter“ (i3-nun) and „sour milk cheese“ (ga-ara3), or they could also deliver the corresponding amount of silver (e.g. SNAT 208).

2. Dairy Products From Cow’s and Goat’s Milk in Ĝirsu: A Quantitative Description

PPAC 5 0610 (AS.02.00.00) documents the „total delivery of butter and wool for one year“ (kilib3-ba / i3-nun u3 siki-de6-a / mu 1-a-kam) and features the highest amounts of butter and cheese attested in Ĝirsu. It lists min. 1,207.33 litres of „butter“ (i3-nun) and „sour milk cheese“ (ga-ara3) from „goats’ fat“ (i3 ud5). The text does not indicate the number of nanny goats involved in primary milk production. Hence we can only estimate it according to the annual delivery quotas of dairy products from goats’ milk known from other Ĝirsu sources. Dividing the total amount of delivered butter and cheese by the attested annual delivery quotas of either 0.3 or 0.5 litres of both butter and cheese per nanny goat, we obtain at least 2,414 to 4,024 nanny goats involved in the primary milk production for the dairy products registered in this text.

PPAC 5 0610 also lists min. 5,557 litres of both „butter“ (i3-nun) and „sour milk cheese“ (ga-ara3) from „cows’ fat“ (i3 ab2), but likewise does not indicate the number of „adult cows“ (ab2 maḫ2) involved in the primary milk production. Hence we can only estimate it according to the annual delivery quota. Though, we lack information on the annual delivery quotas of dairy products from cows’ milk. If we do follow Englund’s suggestion (1995: 382) and assume an annual quota of 10 litres of both „butter“ (i3-nun) and „sour milk cheese“ (ga-ara3) per „adult cow“ (ab2 maḫ2) per year, then PPAC 5 0610 would document the annual delivery quotas of dairy products obtained from the milk of min. 529 adult cows.