Position in chronology
MDP 06, 220
About this tablet
This small clay tablet from Susa (southwestern Iran) is a Proto-Elamite administrative record dated to roughly 3100–2900 BCE — one of the earliest writing systems in the world, contemporary with the earliest Mesopotamian cuneiform. It records quantities of some commodity under a series of sign categories, likely tracking goods such as grain, livestock, or textiles passing through a central storage institution. The numerical notation uses the Proto-Elamite sexagesimal-like system, with signs representing values of 1, 10, 120, and 600 units respectively. Proto-Elamite tablets like this one remain only partially deciphered, making each example valuable evidence in ongoing efforts to understand this ancient accounting tradition.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
The tablet opens with a heading or category sign whose exact meaning is not yet known. It then lists three entries, each under what appears to be the same combined sign grouping, recording quantities of 690, 720, and 1,233 units of some commodity. A further category marker appears, followed by a final total or subtotal of approximately 2,663 units. The subject of the accounting — whether grain, animals, or another good — cannot be determined from the signs alone, as Proto-Elamite remains undeciphered. The rest of the tablet is too damaged or worn to read further.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineM157 [heading/rubric sign — document type or commodity classifier] |M195+M038| |M218+M288| M288 , 1(N34) 9(N14) [= 1×600 + 9×10 = 690 units] |M195+M038|? |M218+M288| M288 , 1(N34) 1(N45) [= 1×600 + 1×120 = 720 units] |M195+M038|? |M218+M288| M288 , 2(N34) 3(N14) 3(N01) [= 2×600 + 3×10 + 3×1 = 1,233 units] M218 [commodity/category marker] M288 , 4(N34) 2(N45)? 2(N14) 3(N01) [= 4×600 + 2×120 + 2×10 + 3×1 = 2,663 units]
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Engine notes
read from photo5 uncertain terms ↓
- M157 — Unidentified proto-cuneiform heading/category sign; its commodity or institutional reference is not yet established with certainty for Susa tablets of this period.
- M195+M038 | M218+M288 | M288 — These are compound proto-cuneiform sign complexes. Their precise referent (a commodity, ration type, or institutional category) remains debated; the sign readings follow CDLI/ATU sign-list conventions.
- N34, N45, N14, N01 — Numerical signs in what may be a bisexagesimal or sexagesimal system. N34 is a large impressed circle (high-order unit), N45 a specific sub-unit sign; exact values depend on which numerical system (S, Š, or other) applies to this commodity category, which is uncertain.
- M218 — Appears as a subtotal or section-divider sign in this context; its precise administrative function is inferred from parallels but not independently confirmed.
- 2(N45)# — The '#' damage marker in the transliteration indicates this reading is uncertain due to surface damage; cannot verify independently from the photograph.
Reasoning ↓
The photograph shows two views of a small, roughly rectangular clay tablet (museum number Sb 15087, Louvre) in a beige-buff fabric with visible surface cracking and a diagonal break repaired or visible across the middle of the main face. The upper image shows the obverse: I can make out groups of deep, round impressed holes (the numerical signs N01, N14, N34, N45 type impressions in the sexagesimal/bisexagesimal system) and incised or impressed pictographic sign complexes arranged in horizontal registers separated by ruled lines, consistent with the transliteration's layout. A cluster of approximately 7–9 large circular impressions is visible in the left register of the second or third entry, consistent with '9(N14)' in line 2. The lower image appears to be the reverse, which is largely plain or carries only faint traces and a few small impressed dots and short strokes — possibly numerical entries or a blank reverse. Overall preservation is moderate: surface erosion obscures fine wedge detail and makes individual sign identification within the complex sign groups (M195+M038, M218+M288) difficult to confirm independently from the photo alone. The transliteration follows standard CDLI proto-cuneiform conventions for Uruk-period Susa tablets (cf. MDP 06 corpus, Damerow & Englund). The damage marker '#?' on lines 3–4 is consistent with the visible surface erosion in the photo. The total line (M288 with the summed numerical expression 4(N34) 2(N45) 2(N14) 3(N01)) cannot be independently verified from the photo at this resolution.
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · prompt 2026-05-12/v4-interpretation · May 14, 2026 · 1854 in / 1070 out tokens
Transliteration
M157 , |M195+M038| |M218+M288| M288 , 1(N34) 9(N14) |M195+M038|#? |M218+M288| M288 , 1(N34) 1(N45) |M195+M038|#? |M218+M288| M288 , 2(N34) 3(N14) 3(N01) M218 , M288 , 4(N34) 2(N45)# 2(N14) 3(N01)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 06, 220. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P008019) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-28/v6-glossary-aware).
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.
Marks the boundary between proto-writing and writing. We can see signs being used systematically — but not yet phonetically. The leap to recording speech itself comes a few centuries later.
The earliest historical document in human history. Before this, we have lists, accounts, and dedications. Here, for the first time, a ruler tells us what happened — with names, places, and consequences.