The presence of ‘the river’ is typical of early bird oracles (pre-Imperial age, palaeographically MS). The same applies to certain conventions of writing (such as the abbreviation of the technical term taru- instead of tar-), which have parallels in early compositions.

The mention of “enemy land” (kola 2) is notably not found within an oracle question but rather within the description of bird flights, serving as a reference point for describing the bird’s movement. Does this mean that the observation occurred near an ‘enemy land’, or even within it, or perhaps just that a bird flew towards/from the direction of the enemy land?

Among other noteworthy elements is a sentence in direct speech in §3´ (k. 13) describing certain movements of a bird. This is perhaps best understood as a quotation from a previous observation, and relevant to the present oracle.

• D. Groddek, DBH 33, 2011: 177
• Y. Sakuma, Diss., 2009: II 616f.

Handcopy: Ch. Rüster (KBo 47, Otten H. et al. 2005a).

Edition: Sakuma Y. 2009b, II, 616-617; Transliteration: Groddek D. 2011a, 177.

Due to the fragment’s form and thickness, it is likely that it belonged to a tablet of small size. The handcopy in KBo 47 suggests that the first preserved line in the obverse(?) was close to the edge of the tablet, thus the composition begun here.

Note that the HPM lists a third photograph tagged with the same fragment code (361/w), but this photo certainly belongs to a different tablet, the other two being the obverse and reverse also copied in KBo 47. This additional fragment contains the beginning of approximately eight lines (two/three signs for each), thus very little can be read apart from portions of sentence clitic chains.

MS (mh.?); diagnostic signs: IT, TAR.

A reliable palaeographic analysis is constrained by the limited sample of signs from this fragment.

The name of a bird uwaranni- (k. 4) is attested only in this text, but it must be noted that the reading is dubious. There are two very similar bird names, ḫuwaranni- and ura/iyanni-, but neither corresponds to the form found on this tablet.