Position in chronology
MDP 26S, 4804
About this tablet
A broken clay tablet from Susa in southwestern Iran, written around 3100–2900 BCE in the proto-Elamite script — a writing system that remains largely undeciphered. It is an accounting document: a heading sign, then a column of entries in which a commodity or personal designation on the left is matched with a numerical notation on the right. Because proto-Elamite words cannot yet be read, we can see the shape of the bookkeeping — who or what, and how much — without knowing what was counted. The tablet is now in the Louvre (Sb 15308).
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a ledger, and most of it is gone. It opens with a single heading sign, then runs down a list of entries: a label on the left, a quantity on the right. Three units against one entry, one unit against another, then a line combining three different numerical units, and finally three more units of a variant measure closing the account. Several lines are broken away entirely or worn to illegibility, and the labels themselves belong to a script no one can yet read, so the commodity being counted is unknown. The back of the tablet is blank.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine(obverse) 1. M157 — 2. M051~b, |M054+M365+M054~i|(?) , [ ... ] — [ ... ] 3. [ ... ] M243~j(?) — 3(N39B) 4. (illegible sign) — 1(N01)(?) 5. (two illegible signs) [ ... ] — [ ... ] 6. (illegible sign) M180(?) [ ... ] — [ ... ] 7. [ ... ] M297@b M379~c@b — 1(N39B@b)(?) 8. [ ... ] — [ ... ] 9. [ ... ] M379~c(?) — 1(N39B) 1(N24) 1(N30C) 10. M243~j — 3(N39B@c) (reverse: uninscribed/blank as preserved)
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 photo9 uncertain terms ↓
- M157 — Unidentified proto-cuneiform/proto-Elamite heading or category sign. Its institutional or commodity referent at Susa is not established; it may denote a product category or administrative heading.
- M051~b |M054+M365+M054~i| — Complex sign group; the '#' diacritic indicates the reading is uncertain even in the transliteration. Individual component signs cannot be confirmed from the photo.
- M243~j — Proto-Elamite sign variant; the commodity it designates is unknown. The '~j' suffix indicates a specific graphemic variant whose value is debated.
- N39B — Elongated impressed numeral. Its metrological value (area, capacity, or other measure) depends on the commodity system in use; this cannot be determined from the surviving text alone.
- N24 — Medium-order numeral. Its place in the counting hierarchy is system-dependent; without knowing the commodity, its absolute value cannot be determined.
- N30C — A numeral sign variant; its value relative to N01 and N24 in the applicable metrological system is uncertain.
- M379~c@b / M379~c — Sign with both variant (~c) and orientation modifier (@b). Commodity referent unknown; '#?' notation in transliteration indicates the reading is tentative.
- M297@b — Sign with rotated orientation (@b). Identity and commodity referent uncertain in proto-Elamite contexts.
- M180 — Tentative reading in the transliteration (marked '?'). Cannot verify from photo.
Reasoning ↓
The photograph shows a small, roughly trapezoidal clay tablet fragment (museum number SB 15308 visible on the edge label, with a red inventory number '4084' or similar on the top edge). The obverse (upper image in the composite) preserves a cluster of impressed wedge and sign traces in the upper left quadrant; the surface deteriorates toward the lower right with significant erosion and a diagonal crack crossing the face. Some sign groups are visible — star-like or crossed impressed marks consistent with proto-cuneiform/proto-Elamite commodity signs can be discerned in the upper portion, and small round impressions (numerical N-signs) appear near the lower left of the reverse (lower image), where circular dot impressions in a row are clearly visible. The reverse (lower image) shows ruled lines forming a rectangular compartment or column divider, with a row of circular punch-marks at the lower left that likely represent numerical entries — consistent with N01 or N39B type numerals in the transliteration. The transliteration provided is heavily damaged (numerous lacunae marked), and the photograph confirms this: large portions of the obverse are effaced or broken away. Specific sign identifications such as M051~b, M243~j, M297@b, M379~c cannot be confirmed at the resolution available; the photo-based reading aligns in general with a fragmentary numerical account but individual sign readings cannot be cross-checked. This is a transliteration-dominant reading with partial visual confirmation of the numerical row on the reverse.
Generated by Claude Sonnet 4.6 · prompt 2026-05-12/v4-interpretation · May 15, 2026 · 2059 in / 1222 out tokens
Transliteration
M157 , M051~b |M054+M365+M054~i|# x [...] , [...] [...] M243~j# , 3(N39B) x , 1(N01)# x x [...] , [...] x M180#? [...] , [...] [...] M297@b M379~c@b , 1(N39B@b)? [...] , [...] [...] M379~c#? , 1(N39B) 1(N24) 1(N30C) M243~j , 3(N39B@c)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 26S, 4804. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P009239) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-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.