In a patrilineal system, property is divided among the surviving sons or the closest related male line. The children of a man whose brother died without heirs therefore stood to inherit from their uncle's estate. Sometimes uncles became greedy and disputed the paternity of a baby born after a brother's death. Three tablets from Emar on the Euphrates in Syria include an attempt to forestall actions that might prevent a man's children from inheriting his estate. One or both footprints of each child—two boys and one girl, apparently triplets—were impressed on tablets next to the seals of the witnesses. For example, written around and across one footprint are the words: "Foot(print) of Ishma-Dagan, the son of Satamma, son of Karbi, a man from the city of Satappa. The seal of Daganbelum. The seal of Lahe...