Position in chronology
MDP 06, 292
About this tablet
An administrative tablet from ancient Susa (in modern Iran), dated to the late Uruk period, roughly 3200–3000 BCE — among the very earliest writing ever produced anywhere in the world. It records quantities of commodities or allocations across ten or so entries, each line pairing a sign-group (likely identifying a commodity, person, or institution) with a numerical notation. The script is proto-Elamite or closely related proto-cuneiform, a stage of writing so early that most signs have not yet been phonetically deciphered; what we can say is that this is a structured accounting document of exactly the type that drove the invention of writing in the first place. Its survival at Susa — an administrative center that participated in the same recording revolution as contemporary Uruk in southern Iraq — makes it a rare window into the bureaucratic origins of literacy.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a list of allocations or commodity entries, each identified by a sign-group we cannot yet read as words and paired with a quantity. The heading sign at the top probably classifies the document type. Entry by entry, the tablet records: one unit of something (line 1, partly damaged); two units of something else (line 2); one larger unit of a third category (line 3); one unit each of further categories (lines 4–6); another larger-unit entry (line 7); a complex entry whose end is broken away (line 8); and a final legible entry of one unit (line 9). The last line is too damaged to read. Because the signs cannot yet be phonetically translated, we read the structure and the numbers clearly, but the commodities and names behind them remain, for now, beyond our reach.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[ Heading/rubric: M157 ] [Line 1:] M377 M217~e M005~a M124 M146 x M376 — 1(N01)[?] [Line 2:] x M380 M371 M376 — 2(N01) [Line 3:] M124 M049~n M049~e M057~a M376 — 1(N08A) [Line 4:] M391 M038~i M096~4 M376 — 1(N01) [Line 5:] M146~5 M222? M218 M376 — 1(N01) [Line 6:] M218~b M332~d M218 M376 — 1(N01) [Line 7:] M371 M295~ka M066~a M376 — 1(N08A) [Line 8:] M311~b M388 M218 M386~a x x [...] — 1(N08A)[?] [Line 9:] M391 M318~a — 1(N01) [Line 10:] [...] — [...]
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
M157 , M377 M217~e M005~a# M124 M146# x M376# , 1(N01)#? x M380 M371 M376 , 2(N01) M124 M049~n M049~e M057~a M376 , 1(N08A) M391 M038~i M096~4 M376 , 1(N01) M146~5 M222? M218 M376 , 1(N01) M218~b# M332~d# M218 M376# , 1(N01) M371 M295~ka M066~a M376 , 1(N08A) M311~b M388 M218 M386~a# x x [...] , 1(N08A)# M391 M318~a , 1(N01) [...] , [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 06, 292. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P008084) — 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.