Position in chronology
MDP 17, 275
About this tablet
A Proto-Elamite accounting tablet from Susa in southwestern Iran, made around 3100–2900 BCE — from the very first generation of writing in that region. It is not language written down but bookkeeping: a column of impressed numbers, each attached to a sign identifying a commodity or a recipient, of which M346 recurs several times. The tablet is broken into several joining pieces, so the running totals and the final entry are lost. Proto-Elamite script has never been deciphered, so we can read the numbers with reasonable confidence but not the words.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a page from a ledger. Entry after entry pairs a category sign with a quantity: thirty-four of something; twenty-three; fifty-eight or more; then, under the repeated heading M346, one large unit plus thirty-nine, and later one large unit plus eighty. Further lines record sixty-plus, then a bigger figure — one N51 and two N23 — beside the sign M362, and four N23 again under M346. The last line names M006, but its number is gone with the broken edge. The rest of the tablet, including the reverse, is too damaged to follow.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineObverse 1. [(sign lost)] — 3(N14) 4(N1) [= 34 units] 2. M367(?) — 2(N14) 3(N1) [= 23 units] 3. [(sign lost)] — [...] 5(N14) 8(N1) [= 58+ units] 4. M346~1 — 1(N23) 3(N14) 9(N1) [= 1 N23 + 39 units] 5. [(sign lost)] — 1(N14) 4(N1) [= 14 units] 6. M346~1 — 1(N23) 8(N14) [= 1 N23 + 80 units] 7. [(sign lost)] — [...] 6(N14) [= 60+ units] 8. [(illegible sign)] M362 — 1(N51) 2(N23) [...] 9. M346~1 — 4(N23) [...] 10. M006 — [...] (the numeral is entirely lost in the break) (The remainder of the tablet is broken away; the reverse fragment preserves further impressed numerals and at least one cross-shaped sign, but no continuous entries can be read.)
Our translation engine — Opus 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 photo6 uncertain terms ↓
- M367 — Transliteration marks this with '?' — the commodity sign is uncertain or only partially preserved. Cannot confirm or refute from photo.
- M346~1 — A proto-cuneiform pictogram (variant 1); possibly representing a container, vessel, or specific commodity. Appears multiple times. The cross/diagonal incision visible in the photo is consistent with this sign family but cannot be confirmed with certainty at this resolution.
- M362 — Proto-cuneiform commodity sign; identity of the commodity it represents is not firmly established. Reading uncertain — preceded by an unidentified sign 'x' in the transliteration.
- M006 — Proto-cuneiform sign; its commodity referent is debated. The associated numerical entry is entirely broken away.
- N23, N51 — Higher-order numerical signs in the proto-cuneiform system. N23 and N51 represent still larger units than N14, but exact absolute values depend on which metrological system (grain, area, liquid, etc.) applies here — and that commodity context is only partially recoverable from the fragmentary sign readings.
- Numerical system — The Uruk period used multiple parallel numerical/metrological systems (sexagesimal, bisexagesimal, area, grain-capacity, etc.). Without confident identification of all commodity signs, it is impossible to assign absolute quantities to the numerical entries recorded here.
Reasoning ↓
Visual examination of the photograph confirms several key features. The tablet survives in multiple fragments (shown from obverse, reverse, and edges); the museum number 'Sb 22437' is visible on a label in the image. The obverse (upper central fragment) clearly shows groups of round circular impressions made with a cylindrical or spherical stylus — these are the N01 and N14 numerical signs expected from the transliteration, arranged in regular grids. A large diagonal incised sign is visible near the center of the upper fragment and again on the lower fragment, consistent with a proto-cuneiform commodity sign (possibly M346~1 or M362, which often appear as angular or cross-like incisions). The surface is heavily eroded and broken, with substantial lacunae at all edges, consistent with the many '[...]' gaps in the transliteration. The left-edge fragment appears to be a thin sliver showing mostly edge profile with little legible surface. The right-edge fragment shows some faint incised marks but is too damaged to read individually. The lower large fragment shows incised sign(s) at top and what appear to be further numerical impressions below, matching the lower lines of the transliteration. Overall the photo aligns well with the transliteration structure: columns of numerals facing commodity pictograms. Exact sign-by-sign verification of specific N-values (N23, N51, etc.) is not possible from this photograph resolution — the finer distinctions between different-sized impressed circles require higher magnification.
Generated by Claude Sonnet 4.6 · prompt 2026-05-12/v4-interpretation · May 15, 2026 · 2005 in / 1117 out tokens
Transliteration
[...] , 3(N14) 4(N01)# M367#? , 2(N14) 3(N01)# [...] , [...] 5(N14)# 8(N01) M346~1# , 1(N23) 3(N14) 9(N01) [...] , 1(N14)# 4(N01)# M346~1 , 1(N23) 8(N14) [...] , [...] 6(N14)# x M362 , 1(N51) 2(N23)# [...] M346~1 , 4(N23)# [...] M006 , [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 17, 275. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P008473) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-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.