Fragment of Cuneiform Tablet: Old Assyrian Letter

Fragment of clay tablet with cuneiform writing. The fragment is inscribed with ruled lines of text written in the Old Assyrian dialect of the Akkadian language. The fragment represents the upper right corner and most of right half of the obverse of the tablet. The reverse is completely missing and there are no seal impressions preserved. The tablet probably comes from the trading colony (karum) by the mound of Kültepe (ancient Kanesh) near Kaiseri in Cappadocia (central Anatolia). Very little of the text is legible but the first two lines indicate a standard letter formula. The sender of the letter is Waqqurtum ("precious one"), which is known to be the nickname of the daughter of the well-known merchant Pushu-Ken. The recipient's name is half broken, but may be Puzur-Assur. IMAGE: Middle row, middle fragment.