Position in chronology
MDP 06, 208
About this tablet
This is a proto-cuneiform administrative tablet from Susa (ancient Elam, modern southwest Iran), dating to the Late Uruk period, roughly 3200–3000 BCE — among the very earliest writing in human history. It is a tally or ledger, recording small quantities (mostly 1 or 2 units) of commodities or rations against sign sequences that likely denote categories of goods, recipients, or disbursements. The tablet is fragmented into several pieces, visible in the photograph, and its dense wedge impressions and circular number signs are characteristic of the earliest administrative record-keeping at Susa. Its significance lies precisely in its primitiveness: this is writing at or near its origin, used not for literature but for counting.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
The tablet records a series of line-by-line allocations or tallies: two units of one category, then one unit each of several further categories, with some entries noting a specific composite sign grouping (possibly a named commodity or institution). The last legible line records a larger unit (the N08A notation, equivalent to roughly 6 or 10 standard units). Several entries are too broken to read. In modern terms: a short columnar spreadsheet — 'Item A: 2; Item B: 1; Item C: 1; Item D: 1; Item E: [lost]; Item F: 1; Item G: 1 large unit.' The rest is damaged or missing.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[...] (signs M175, M218, M003~c), 2 (units) M376 [...] [...] M218 (x), 1 (unit) M218 M250~ba M386~a M240 M376, 1 (unit) M044 [...], [...] M240 (x) M376, 1 (unit) (x) |M218+M099| M240 M370 M376, 1 (large unit/N08A)
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
[...] M175 M218 M003~c , 2(N01)#? M376# , [...] [...] M218# x , 1(N01)# M218 M250~ba# M386~a M240 M376 , 1(N01) M044 [...] , [...] M240 x M376# , 1(N01) x |M218+M099|#? M240 M370 M376 , 1(N08A)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 06, 208. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P008008) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-28/v6-glossary-aware).
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Related sources
One of the earliest specimens of human writing. Not literature, not law — accounting. The need to keep track of grain in a temple bureaucracy is what pushed marks-on-clay into a system that could one day carry epics.
A window into the world's first total state. The Ur III administration tracked every animal, every worker, every shekel — for a population in the millions. The level of paperwork was not exceeded until the modern era.