Flour and rocks

[oipteaapdoce]

I have seen many mentions of different flours and also of different stones used in the Mesopotamian magic. Are there any works that list the Latin botanical name of any of the ancient grains used? I'm assuming many are not known, but there has to be some? Or perhaps a book which talks about which crops were produced in that region throughout time? The temple supply lists would give some ideas as well, but are many of the flours even known?

With the stones, a few are mentioned by the modern name, and I suppose others could be figured out if a description was given, but I keep running into stone names that seem to be (as of yet) untranslated. Are there any sources out there which list which quarries there were in the Mesopotamian areas? Or perhaps even a modern account since the rocks of an area don't change all that much over time.

I am just assuming if the modern names for the items were known they would have been listed, but you never know. Perhaps there are more modern botony or geological books out.

I'll look up some of the flours and stones in particular which I have seen listed. I have read through so many posts and books I'm starting to lose track about what was where now.

[ummia-inim-gina]

Bottero discusses a lexical list identifying different grades of flour. I remembering him stating that there were dozens of different grades of flour but what the differences were is still unknown. Being a baker by profession, I found this an interesting contrast to the handful of grades modern millers produce. As for grains, the Sumerians mainly worked with Barely and a variety of wheats. Not much else was available to the region until much later in history. I'll see if I can find that list of flours so I can post it here.
Mesopotamia is a mineral deficient river valley. So the Sumerians had to import their stones from adjacent regions. This poses a problem with identifying the Sumerian names for minerals with there modern counterparts in Iraq today. While there is also a lexical list of minerals available you might find it more interesting look over lines 416 to 637 of:

Ninurta's exploits: a šir-sud (?) to Ninurta (ETCSL 1.6.2.)

Many of the stones are not identified but some are listed in parenthesis. Even for the unidentified minerals the text often gives some indication of the use or value of the mineral. Here is a list of the stone discussed:

U stone (emery)
Šu stone
gasura stone
saĝkal stone
saĝĝar stones
gulgul stone
Esi (diorite)
na stone
elel stone
kagena (haematite)
ĝišnugal (alabaster)
algameš stone
dušia stone
nir
gug (cornelian)
zagin (lapis lazuli)
amaš-pa-e
šaba
ḫurizum
gug-gazi
marḫali
egi-zaga
girin-ḫiliba
anzugulme
nir-mušĝir stone
gazi-musud stone
ĝir-zu-ĝal (flint)
iman stone
alliga stone
mašda stone
dubban stone
urutum stone
Šagara stone
marḫuša stone
ḫaštum stone
durul stone
šegšeg stone
engen
ezinum stone
ug-gun
ḫem
madanum
saĝgirmud
mursuḫ stone
kurgaranum stone
bal stone
šembi (kohl)

[ummia-inim-gina]

Here is what the ePSD has:

flour
asag [~FLOUR] wr. a-sag "a designation of flour"
aš [FLOUR] wr. aš "bread; a type of flour" Akk. akalu; upumtu
dabin [SEMOLINA] wr. dabin "semolina, barley grits" Akk. tappinnu
dubdub [~FLOUR] wr. dub-dub "flour designation"
edadi [FLOUR] wr. zid2e2-da-di "a type of flour" Akk. edadû
eš [FLOUR] wr. eš2 "a flour" Akk. qēmu; upumtu
eša [FLOUR] wr. eša "a fine flour" Akk. saskû
kuš [MALT-FLOUR] wr. kuš7 "malt-flour" Akk. kukkušu
mel [MALT-FLOUR] wr. mel "malt-flour" Akk. kukkušu
metenum [BIN] wr. ĝešme-te-num2 "flour bin" Akk. meţēnu
mundu [GROATS] wr. mun-du "groats" Akk. mundu
niĝara [GROATS] wr. niĝ2-ar3-ra "groats" Akk. mundu
utu [~CEREAL] wr. LAK384; utu2; utu5 "a cereal concoction" Akk. diktu
zatum [FLOUR] wr. za-tum; za-al-tum "type of flour" Akk. zātu
zid [FLOUR] wr. zid2 "flour" Akk. qēmu
ziddubdub [FLOUR HEAP] wr. zid2-dub-dub "a flour heap" Akk. zidubdubbû
zideša [FLOUR] wr. zid2-eša "a flour"
zidgig [FLOUR] wr. zid2-gig "wheat flour"
zidgu [FLOUR] wr. zid2-gu; zi3-kum; zikum; |ŠU2+ZI3| "a type of flour" Akk. isqūqu
zidkukkuš [FLOUR] wr. zid2-kukkuš "a flour"
zidmilla [FLOUR] wr. zid2-milla "flour" Akk. kukkušu
zidmunu [RATION] wr. zid2-munu4 "a type of ration" Akk. isimānnu
zidsig [FLOUR] wr. zid2-sig15 "a kind of flour" Akk. hišlētu

[oipteaapdoce]

Wow, thank you ummia-inim-gina for the quite extensive lists of both flours and rocks! It's too bad so many names are lost, but still interesting nonetheless. At least in some of the tablets the stone is described which helps to narrow down what it could be. Now call me silly, but I had no idea there were different grades of flours. Too bad about the extensive use of what and barley though as they have gluten in them <darn!>

Athena

[ummia-inim-gina]

Yeah a Celiac would have had it rough back in ancient Mesopotamia.

[xuchilpaba]

Is there a way to identify the stones they used and how they used them in magical cases?