Cuneiform law
Cuneiform law is generally classified separately from later Middle Eastern law, but has been viewed as a predecessor of Biblical and Jewish law. The communities of the Middle East that made use of cuneiform law were generally all in contact with one another, and developed similar cultures. Akkadian, a cuneiform language, was used throughout the entire area, and even as far as Egypt, for diplomatic communications during the Amarna Period.
Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative
The Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI) is an international digital library project aimed at putting text and images of an estimated 500,000 recovered cuneiform tablets created from between roughly 3350 BC and the end of the pre-Christian era online. Directors of the project are Robert K. Englund from University of California, Los Angeles and Jürgen Renn of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. Co-principal investigators are Jacob Dahl at Oxford University, Bertrand Lafront at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Nanterre and Émilie Pagé-Perron, University of Toronto. Preceding leadership comprised co-director Peter Damerow (1939-2011) from the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science and Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary leader Stephen J. Tinney who was co-principal investigator. In 2004 Englund received the Richard W. Lyman Award from the National Humanities Center for his work on the initiative.