Amarna letter EA 161, titled: An Absence Explained, is a tall clay tablet letter of 8 paragraphs, with single paragraphing lines. The surface is somewhat degraded, but most cuneiform signs that remain (undamaged corners, or scrapes contain lost signs, added by context per translation), allow for a relative complete translation context for the letter, and the eight paragraphs. The clay tablet is no. BM 29818 at the British Museum; the number is visible at the top of the tablet, above Para I-(in black, the top half of the number visible).