Remarks on the paleography of the Pre-Sargonic cuneiform tablets from the Umma region

This appendix is the result of the joint effort of the two authors, and consists of a sketch ofthe paleography of the ED IIIb Umma region. It does not constitute a complete survey of the topic; rather it includes a selection of signs salient for the correct reading and interpretation of the texts edited herein. In order to provide diachronic continuity to our discourse, we chose to take into consideration the corpus of texts of the ED IIIb Umma region, including the so-called archive of Lugalzagesi, i.e. the most recent Ummaite Pre-Sargonic group of texts. This work was made possible and considerably facilitated by the possibility of collating the great part of the texts discussed, either personally or by means of high-quality photographs. The idea for this contribution originated from the practical need to distinguish pairs (or clusters) of signs sharing common features (e.g. AGRIG, GUL, and U3, GURUS and KAL), or to identify and describe peculiar signs (e.g. GIBIL and ZA7). The absence of a reference sign list also played a decisive role committing the authors to such an effort.