Position in chronology
MDP 06, 290
About this tablet
This is a proto-cuneiform administrative tablet from Susa (ancient Elam, modern southwest Iran), dating to roughly 3200–3000 BCE — one of the earliest phases of writing anywhere in the world. It records quantities of goods or commodities assigned to various categories or individuals, using a sign system that is still only partially deciphered. The tablet belongs to the same administrative tradition that produced the earliest writing at Uruk in southern Iraq, suggesting close institutional connections between the two cities at this period. Because proto-cuneiform (and the closely related proto-Elamite) writing has not been fully decoded, we can read the numerals and recognize the sign-forms, but the precise meaning of most commodity signs remains unknown.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet lists a series of commodities or allocations, each followed by a quantity. The heading or document-type marker appears at the top. Entries then follow: one group of goods recorded under a compound sign notation — quantity: 1 (large unit); another entry — 2 (small units); further entries of 1 unit each, continuing down the tablet. Several entries involve signs too damaged or as yet undeciphered to translate into plain words. Near the bottom, one entry carries a larger quantity notation (1 large unit plus 3 small units), and the final entry records 3 small units. In short: a tally of multiple commodity categories, each counted once or a few times, drawn up by an accountant at ancient Susa — but the exact nature of the goods counted remains, for now, beyond our reading.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineHeading/rubric: M325 [Line 1:] |M157+M377~e+M377~e| M388 M057~b1[?] M387 M218 — 1(N02) [Line 2:] M057~a M372~m M371[?] — 2(N01) [Line 3:] M377[?] x M371 — 1(N01) [Line 4:] M057 M352~n M004 M218 — 1(N01) [Line 5:] M109 M096[?] M057 — 2(N02) [Line 6:] [...] — 1(N01)[?] [Line 7:] M388 M096[?] M329[?] — 1(N01) [Line 8:] x x M371 x — 1(N01) [Line 9:] x [...] — 1(N01)[?] [Line 10:] [...] x — 1(N01)[?] [Line 11:] M029~c[?] M387~ef M066 — 1(N01) [...] [Line 12:] x M291 — 1(N14) 3(N01) [Line 13:] M072 — 3(N01)
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
M325 , |M157+M377~e+M377~e| M388 M057~b1# M387 M218 , 1(N02) M057~a M372~m M371#? , 2(N01)# M377#? x M371 , 1(N01) M057 M352~n M004 M218 , 1(N01) M109 M096#? M057 , 2(N02) [...] , 1(N01)# M388 M096#? M329#? , 1(N01) x x M371 x , 1(N01) x [...] , 1(N01)# [...] x , 1(N01)# M029~c? M387~ef M066 , 1(N01) [...] x M291 , 1(N14) 3(N01) M072 , 3(N01)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 06, 290. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P008082) — 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.