Steven J. Garfinkle, Western Washington University 6 Ur III Administrative Texts Building Blocks of State Community 1 1 Introduction The archives from the Third Dynasty of Ur (Ur III period, 2012–2004 BC) are famous among Assyriologists and ancient historians for two reasons: first, the tremendous number of surviving texts; second, the laconic nature of the major- ity of these texts. Tens of thousands of texts survive documenting the last cen- tury of the third millennium BC, and these are mostly the records of the state administration. The majority of these administrative texts are small, most often no taller or wider than a modern credit card, consisting of 10–20 lines of text. 2 For the most part, these tablets record deliveries and disbursements of move- able property or of labor. As a result of this proliferation of texts, the Ur III period is often considered a paradigm for the early development of bureaucra- cy and absolute state control. Explaining the sudden appearance of so many texts in this era is one of the most pressing questions facing observers of early Mesopotamia. Unless this abundance is an accident of discovery or preservation, then it is evidence for significant social, economic, and political developments at the end of the third millennium BC. 3 A common response presumes that the archives were by-prod- ucts of government growth, and in particular of centralization. In addition, according to the old evolutionary understanding of the growth of the state in 1 I extend my warm appreciation to Paul Delnero and Jacob Lauinger for organizing and guid- ing the successful symposium at Johns Hopkins University at which this contribution was first presented. The published version of my paper benefited from the insight of the participants, and especially from the critique that I received from Chris Woods who had the task of reading my contribution at the symposium. 2 According to Molina (2008: 43) more than 90 % of the catalogued tablets from this period include fewer than 30 lines, and nearly 75% contain 5–15 lines of text. 3 Adams (2009: 2–3) pointed out that the nature of the Ur III corpus is not merely the accident of discovery or preservation: “My personal belief, having walked over many thousands of an- cient mounds in southern Mesopotamia (not a few of them with Ur III periods of occupation), is that a major alteration in the presently observed huge preponderance of state records, is surely subject to some reduction but not necessarily to fundamental change.”