‘Spreadsheets of empire’: red tape goes back 4,000 years, say scientists after Iraq finds

<p>Ancient Mesopotamian stone tablets show extraordinary detail and reach of government in cradle of world civilisations</p><p>The red tape of government bureaucracy spans more than 4,000 years, according to new finds from the cradle of the world’s civilisations, Mesopotamia.</p><p>Hundreds of administrative tablets – the earliest physical evidence of the first empire in recorded history – have been discovered by archaeologists from the British Museum and Iraq. These texts detail the minutiae of government and reveal a complex bureaucracy – the red tape of an ancient civilisation.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/mar/15/stone-tablets-mesopotamia-iraq-red-tape-bureaucracy">Continue reading...</a>