Position in chronology
MDP 06, 276
About this tablet
This is a Proto-Elamite administrative tablet from Susa (modern Shush, southwestern Iran), dating to roughly 3100–2900 BCE — one of the earliest writing systems in human history, still largely undeciphered. It records a structured list of commodities or goods, each line pairing one or more category signs with a numeral, in the standard Proto-Elamite accounting format. The tablet is broken into at least two joining fragments (now held at the Louvre as Sb 15122), and several lines are damaged or lost. Documents like this were the bookkeeping records of a complex redistributive economy, tracking who received what from a central institution — the Elamite equivalent of a bureaucratic ledger.
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 document-type marker, then lists a series of commodity entries, each followed by a quantity. Reading across the surviving lines: one entry records 2 units of a particular good; another entry, partially broken, also shows 2 units; a third records 2 units plus 1 larger unit; another shows 1 unit; then 3 units; then 1 large unit; 1 unit; 4 units; and the final legible line records 4 units plus 1 large unit. Several lines in between are too damaged or broken to read. The overall document appears to be a tally of multiple commodity categories, likely compiled by an administrator tracking receipts or disbursements.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[Rubric/heading sign M157] [x] [M004] [M218] [M376] , 2 [M228b+M101] [M228b+M320] [...] , [...] [...] [M285c] , 2 [M386a] [M380] [M371] , 2 + 1(large unit) [M219] [M295l] [M218] , 1 [x] [M296+M296] [M371] , 3 [M251i] [M371] , 1(large unit) [M381] , 1 [...] [M226c?] [M032] [M218b] , 4 [M387] [x?] [...] , [...] [...] [M352o] , 1 [...] [M218] [...] , [...] [...] , [...] 4 [M381] , 4 + 1(large unit)
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
M157~a , x M004 M218 M376 , 2(N01) |M228~b+M101| |M228~b+M320| [...] , [...] [...] M285~c , 2(N01) M386~a M380 M371 , 2(N01) 1(N08A) M219 M295~l M218 , 1(N01)# x |M296+M296|#? M371 , 3(N01) M251~i M371 , 1(N08A) M381 , 1(N01)# [...] M226~c#? M032 M218~b , 4(N01) M387 x? [...] , [...] [...] M352~o# , 1(N01) [...] M218# [...] , [...] [...] , [...] 4(N01)# M381 , 4(N01) 1(N08A)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 06, 276. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P008069) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-28/v6-glossary-aware).
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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.
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.