A joint international team excavating the ancient Sumerian city of Lagash has unearthed a specialized archive belonging to the Overseer of the Royal Orchards. The find consists of over 200 cuneiform tablets that serve as a meticulous technical record of date-palm cultivation, including the world's earliest known descriptions of manual pollination and advanced grafting techniques used to improve crop yields.
These documents detail the specific seasonal quotas for different varieties of dates and the complex irrigation schedules required for the palace groves. The archive also includes legal contracts for the seasonal labor of professional "tree-climbers" and records of the high-quality honey produced from orchard blossoms, which was specifically reserved for temple offerings to the goddess Ningirsu.