{
  "author": "ChronologiaOS editorial guides",
  "date": "2026-10-09",
  "department": "Mathematics & Measurement",
  "department_id": "NUMBERS",
  "epistemic_label": "Source guide",
  "epistemic_status": "SOURCE_GUIDE",
  "period": "c. 1800 BCE",
  "place": "Mesopotamia",
  "public_sources": [
    {
      "publisher": "Columbia University Libraries",
      "title": "History of Science \u2013 Plimpton 322",
      "type": "Institutional collection record",
      "url": "https://library.columbia.edu/about/policies/collection-development/subject/history_of_science.html"
    }
  ],
  "publication_state": "PUBLIC",
  "read_time": "3 min read",
  "sections": [
    {
      "body": "Columbia University Libraries, which hold the tablet in the Plimpton collection, identify Plimpton 322 as created around 1800 BCE and note its mathematical significance. The research record treats it as an established object with an approximate date that still needs a refined scholarly dating range.",
      "heading": "Start with the object",
      "source": 0
    },
    {
      "body": "The tablet's columns are directly visible. What they were for is a separate claim layer: the record explicitly keeps the interpretation of mathematical purpose apart from the object's description. Several readings exist, and the tablet does not announce which one is right.",
      "heading": "Numbers first, meaning second"
    },
    {
      "body": "Write down what can be observed: material, layout, the sequence of numbers, a broken edge. Then list what each interpretation adds. A persuasive modern reading should explain the observed features better than its rivals, not just fit them.",
      "heading": "Try the research habit"
    },
    {
      "body": "If the dating is refined by even a century, which interpretations would be affected, and which depend only on the mathematics?",
      "heading": "A question to carry forward"
    }
  ],
  "short_title": "What is a table of numbers for?",
  "slug": "plimpton-322-a-babylonian-table-and-its-interpreters",
  "summary": "Meet a clay tablet from around 1800 BCE whose columns of numbers have been read in several ways. Separate the object from the interpretations.",
  "tags": [
    "Plimpton 322",
    "Babylonian mathematics",
    "Clay tablets",
    "Interpretation"
  ],
  "title": "Plimpton 322: a Babylonian table and its interpreters."
}