Position in chronology
MDP 06, 292
About this tablet
This is a small clay accounting tablet from Susa (ancient Elam, in modern southwest Iran), written in the proto-Elamite script — one of the world's earliest writing systems, developed around the same time as early cuneiform in Uruk-period Mesopotamia (roughly 3100–2900 BCE) but still not deciphered by scholars today. The tablet lists a series of entries, each a short cluster of signs followed by a small number, using two distinct counting systems (marked here as N01 and N08A) — the everyday format of an inventory, receipt, or ration list. Because proto-Elamite signs cannot yet be read phonetically or semantically, we can describe the tablet's structure and quantities precisely, but not say what commodities, people, or transactions it actually records. It is a vivid reminder that literacy and bureaucratic record-keeping arose independently, and in step, in more than one part of the ancient Near East.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This clay tablet from Susa is a bookkeeping record written in proto-Elamite, a script that predates readable writing systems and has never been fully deciphered. It lays out about nine or ten short entries — each a small cluster of signs, probably naming a commodity, person, or category — followed by a number, using two different counting systems, so it reads like a tally or inventory list. A single sign stands alone at the top, likely some kind of heading or document label. Several entries are damaged or partly illegible, the list breaks off before the end, and the back of the tablet appears to have been left blank. In short: it's clearly an accounting document, but exactly what was being counted remains unknown.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineHeading (isolated sign, position and function unclear): M157 (Obverse — entries, each a group of signs followed by a numeral notation) 1) M377 M217(var. e) M005(var. a, damaged) M124 M146(damaged) [illegible sign] M376(damaged) — quantity: 1 (N01, reading uncertain) 2) [illegible sign] M380 M371(damaged) M376 — quantity: 2 (N01) 3) M124 M049(var. n) M049(var. e) M057(var. a) M376 — quantity: 1 (N08A) 4) M391 M038(var. i) M096(var. 4) M376 — quantity: 1 (N01) 5) M146(var. 5) M222(uncertain) M218 M376 — quantity: 1 (N01) 6) M218(var. b, damaged) M332(var. d, damaged) M218 M376(damaged) — quantity: 1 (N01) 7) M371 M295(var. ka) M066(var. a) M376 — quantity: 1 (N08A) 8) M311(var. b) M388 M218 M386(var. a, damaged) [two illegible signs] [...] — quantity: 1 (N08A, damaged) 9) M391 M318(var. a) — quantity: 1 (N01) 10) [...] — [...] (text broken off) (Reverse: uninscribed, as far as visible on the photograph)
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 , M377 M217~e M005~a# M124 M146# x M376# , 1(N01)#? x M380 M371 M376 , 2(N01) M124 M049~n M049~e M057~a M376 , 1(N08A) M391 M038~i M096~4 M376 , 1(N01) M146~5 M222? M218 M376 , 1(N01) M218~b# M332~d# M218 M376# , 1(N01) M371 M295~ka M066~a M376 , 1(N08A) M311~b M388 M218 M386~a# x x [...] , 1(N08A)# M391 M318~a , 1(N01) [...] , [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 06, 292. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P008084) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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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.