In the ancient city of Larsa, archaeologists have discovered a 3,800-year-old cuneiform archive dedicated to agricultural leasehold contracts and land-rights disputes. The collection of over 400 clay tablets details the complex legal framework governing the rental of date palm groves and barley fields during the reign of Rim-Sin I. These documents provide unprecedented insight into the socioeconomic structure of the Old Babylonian period, revealing the rights of tenant farmers and the role of the state in agrarian management.
The archive was found alongside a set of standardized boundary-stone templates, used by royal surveyors to mark land parcels and prevent encroachment. Analysis of the cuneiform texts shows that Babylonian law required detailed soil-quality assessments before any lease could be finalized. This find confirms that the Babylonians utilized a sophisticated bureaucratic system to ensure agricultural productivity and legal transparency in their desert kingdom.