Position in chronology
MDP 06, 283
About this tablet
This is a small proto-Elamite economic tablet from Susa (in modern southwest Iran), dating to the Uruk period — one of the earliest experiments in writing anywhere, roughly contemporary with the invention of cuneiform in Mesopotamia but using a still-undeciphered sign system. It appears to record quantities of some commodity or commodities (5 units, 1 unit, 5 units) organized under heading signs, likely for an institutional storehouse or administration. Because the proto-Elamite script has never been fully deciphered, the specific goods, officials, or transaction being recorded cannot be identified — only the numerical bookkeeping structure is legible.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This broken clay tablet from Susa is an accounting record written in the still-undeciphered proto-Elamite script. It opens with a heading symbol, followed by entries pairing unidentified commodity or category signs with quantities — one line records 5 units, another 1 unit, another 5 units again. The tablet is damaged in several places, so a number of entries are missing or unreadable, and because the script itself resists translation, we cannot say what goods, animals, or materials were actually being counted.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineM157 (heading sign), M383~j(?) ... combined sign M305+M009 , [break] [break] , [break] 5 (units) M305 M049~e M066 M346~b , 1 (unit) [break] [break] ... M346~b , 5 (units) M147~a [break] , [break]
Our translation engine — Sonnet 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
M157# , M383~j#? x |M305+M009| , [...] [...] , [...] 5(N01) M305 M049~e M066 M346~b , 1(N01) [...] [...] x M346~b , 5(N01) M147~a [...] , [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 06, 283. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P008076) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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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.