Position in chronology
MDP 06, 286
About this tablet
This is a small clay accounting tablet from Susa, in what is now southwest Iran, written in the still-undeciphered proto-Elamite script — a numerical notation system used by administrators around the late 4th millennium BCE, roughly contemporary with early Uruk-period writing in Mesopotamia. It records a list of entries, each pairing an unidentified commodity or classifier sign with a quantity expressed in proto-Elamite number signs (N14, N01, N34 — units of a counting system whose exact values are not fully recovered), followed by what appears to be a summary total at the bottom. Because proto-Elamite signs have not been phonetically or semantically deciphered, we cannot say what commodity was being counted (grain, animals, textiles, or something else), only that this was a bookkeeping document — someone's tally of goods or resources, itemized line by line.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This looks like an inventory or tally sheet. At the top is a heading mark, then a series of broken, illegible entries. Once the text becomes readable, each line lists one or two unnamed sign-groups (probably standing for a commodity or a person/place) followed by a number: 2 units, then 2 units plus 2 more, then 1 unit and 7 more, then 8, then 3, then 1 and 2, then 7, then 1, then 1 — with one line giving only a heading sign and no count. The tablet ends with what seems to be a grand total of roughly 4 large units plus 2 smaller ones. Because the script itself (proto-Elamite) has never been deciphered, we can reconstruct the bookkeeping pattern — item, item, quantity — but not what the goods actually were.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineObverse: (heading sign) M157 [...] x [...] : [...] [...] x [...] : [...] [...] x : 2(N14) (compound sign) |M327+M059| : 2(N14) [...] (compound sign) |M327+X| : 2(N14) 2(N01) [...] (compound sign) |M106+M288| — M218 — M073~a : 1(N14) 7(N01) x — M110~a — M371 : 8(N01) (compound sign) |M057+M291| — M352~o — M004 : 3(N14) x — M250~ba — M218 : 1(N14) 2(N01) [...] : 7(N01) M365 : 1(N14) x x : 1(N14) M218 (no numeral — classifier or heading) [...] : [...] 4(N34) 2(N01) (total/summary line)
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 ↓
- M157 — Heading or category sign whose commodity reference is not established for Susa proto-cuneiform; may denote an institutional category, animal type, or product class.
- N14 / N01 — The relative values of these numerical signs depend on the metrological system in use for the commodity counted. N14 is conventionally 10× N01 in sexagesimal counting but can equal 6× in bisexagesimal systems used for certain goods such as grain or livestock.
- N34 — A still higher-order impressed numeral whose precise quantitative value cannot be fixed without knowing the full metrological context of this tablet.
- M218 — Functions as a subtotal or section-divider in comparable proto-cuneiform texts, but this interpretation is inferred from Uruk parallels and is not independently confirmed for Susa.
- M327+M059 / M327+X — Compound signs; the second element of the second compound is unreadable ('X'), making commodity identification impossible.
- M250~ba — The '~ba' variant and its reading are uncertain; '#' in the transliteration signals that even the sign identification is tentative.
- M106+M288 — Compound sign; M288 recurs as a qualifier or commodity determinative in proto-cuneiform but its exact semantic value is not established.
Reasoning ↓
Visual examination of the photograph (upper tablet, museum number Sb 15130): the obverse surface is heavily cracked, with several deep fissures running diagonally across the face. The clay is a pale buff colour. In the upper register, impressed wedge clusters consistent with proto-cuneiform signs are visible, though individual sign identifications are very difficult at this resolution because the wedges are shallow and erosion has softened edges. Rows of impressed numerals — circular and wedge-shaped impressions — are visible in roughly the right half of the tablet, consistent with the N01/N14 numerical signs in the transliteration. The lower image appears to be the reverse of the same tablet, which is almost entirely uninscribed or too eroded to carry readable sign impressions. The left edge carries the museum label 'Sb 15130'. The museum number '286' in red ink on the edge fragment in the middle of the photograph matches the MDP 06, 286 catalogue reference. Overall the photo confirms the general layout (signs on the left, numerals on the right in columnar rows) and the damaged state described by the transliteration's heavy use of brackets and '#' uncertainty markers, but individual sign readings beyond the numerical impressions cannot be independently verified at this resolution. The transliteration is drawn from the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI) record P008078 for this Uruk-period Susa administrative tablet.
Generated by Claude Sonnet 4.6 · prompt 2026-05-12/v4-interpretation · May 15, 2026 · 2451 in / 1146 out tokens
Transliteration
M157 , x [...] , [...] [...] x [...] , [...] [...] x , 2(N14)#? |M327+M059|#? , 2(N14) [...] |M327+X| , 2(N14) 2(N01)# [...] |M106+M288| M218 M073~a , 1(N14)# 7(N01) x M110~a# M371 , 8(N01)# |M057+M291| M352~o M004 , 3(N14) x M250~ba# M218# , 1(N14) 2(N01)#? [...] , 7(N01) M365 , 1(N14) x x , 1(N14) M218 [...] , [...] 4(N34)# 2(N01)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 06, 286. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P008078) — 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.