Position in chronology
MDP 06, 260
About this tablet
This is a small, badly broken proto-Elamite administrative tablet from Susa, in what is now southwestern Iran, dating to the Uruk period (roughly the later 4th millennium BCE) — one of the earliest experiments in writing anywhere in the world. The surviving fragments preserve numeral notations (counts like 2, 5+2, and 4 of various unit signs) alongside undeciphered proto-Elamite signs, meaning this was almost certainly a record of counted goods, animals, or rations kept by an early accountant. The proto-Elamite script itself has never been fully deciphered, so while we can recognize the numbers and repeated sign shapes, we cannot yet say what commodity or person is being recorded.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
What survives of this tablet is a short accounting entry broken into several pieces. One line records a quantity of 2 units next to an unidentified sign; another line lists a possible classifier sign followed by a gap; a third line pairs two occurrences of the same unknown sign with another sign and a count of roughly 5 plus 2 more units; a fourth line gives a count of 4 units next to an illegible sign; and the last readable line pairs two more undeciphered signs before the text breaks off. In short: this is a fragmentary tally of goods or produce, but because the proto-Elamite script is not yet decipherable, we can read the numbers reliably while the words for what was being counted remain unknown.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine(Line 1) [......] sign M302 (variant ~s?) , 2(N01) (Line 2) sign M288 , [......] (Line 3) [......] sign M262, sign M262, sign M096 , 5(N01) 2(N39B) [......] (Line 4) [......] x , 4(N01) (Line 5) sign M056 (variant ~e?), sign M288 , [......]
Our translation engine — Sonnet 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Engine notes
read from photo7 uncertain terms ↓
- M302~s — Proto-cuneiform sign whose commodity or qualifier value is not established; the '~s' suffix indicates a sub-type variant. Cannot confirm reading from photo.
- M288 — Appears twice; functions as a commodity sign or qualifier in proto-cuneiform but its precise semantic value is unknown. Not visually confirmable at this resolution.
- M262 — Repeated sign; appears twice in line 3. Identity and meaning uncertain; could relate to a category of goods or an institutional term.
- M096 — Commodity or qualifier sign; meaning not established for this text.
- N39B — An elongated impressed numeral used in specific metrological systems (possibly area or capacity). Its commodity-specific numerical value is debated; may not correspond to a simple integer in the same system as N01.
- M056~e — Sub-type variant of sign M056; commodity identity unknown. Not visually confirmable from the photograph.
- 2(N39B)# — The '#' flag in the transliteration signals the reading is uncertain even to the original editor. The numeral type and quantity are tentative.
Reasoning ↓
Visual examination of the photograph: the tablet is a small, roughly oval clay fragment shown from multiple angles (obverse, reverse, and edges). The surface is heavily eroded and pitted with fine cracks and surface loss. On the obverse (upper main image), several rows of impressed and incised wedges are visible. In the upper register I can make out groups of sign-like impressions that are consistent with the complex logographic signs described in the transliteration (e.g., crossed or hatched sign clusters plausibly matching M262 or M096 types), and horizontal strokes that look like simple numerical tallies (N01 type). The middle register shows a series of clearly impressed horizontal lines, consistent with repeated N01 numerals. The lower register is more damaged and harder to read. The reverse (lower main image) appears largely blank or bears no surviving inscription, consistent with a simple obverse-only administrative tablet. Side views show the tablet's thinness and edge damage. Overall visual reading broadly aligns with the provided transliteration: numerical impressions are visible, complex signs are present in the upper area, and significant lacunae (broken edges top and bottom) explain the square brackets. However, at this resolution and given the erosion, I cannot verify individual sign identities (M302~s, M288, M262, M096, M056~e) with any confidence — they are plausible but not confirmable from the photo alone. The museum number 'Sb 15108' is legible on the reverse label. This is a transliteration-anchored reading with limited visual confirmation.
Generated by Claude Sonnet 4.6 · prompt 2026-05-12/v4-interpretation · May 15, 2026 · 1824 in / 976 out tokens
Transliteration
[...] M302~s# , 2(N01) M288 , [...] [...] M262# M262 M096 , 5(N01) 2(N39B)# [...] [...] x , 4(N01)# M056~e# M288# , [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 06, 260. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P008054) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
Related tablets
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.