MDP 06, 370

~3000 BCE·Uruk Period·P008152

About this tablet

A proto-cuneiform administrative tablet from Susa (modern southwestern Iran), dated to the Uruk period, roughly 3300–3000 BCE. It records numerical allocations or tallies of commodities under a series of unidentified commodity or category signs — essentially a structured list of quantities. The signs have not been fully deciphered, placing it among the very earliest writing in the world: accounting records so old that scholars can read the numbers but not all the words. Its survival — albeit in fragments — makes it a rare witness to the emergence of literacy and bureaucracy at one of the ancient Near East's most important early cities.

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 commodity categories, each followed by a quantity. The first line carries what appears to be a heading or document-type marker. Then come entries: one category receives 2 units; another, a very large quantity; a damaged line records 4 large units; a further entry runs to an even larger total with multiple sub-denominations; and so on through about a dozen entries before the tablet breaks off. The precise goods being counted are not yet deciphered — the numbers are clear, the commodity names are not. The lower portion of the tablet is blank or too eroded to read.

A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.

Translation — our engine

Our engine

Low confidence

M157 [rubric/heading sign] M391, 2 M038~i M288, 1(N45) 1(N14) 5(N01) 1(N24) [large numerical total] [...], 4(N14) [x] M288, 9(N34) 1(N45) 2(N01) 2(N39B) [large numerical total] [...], 1(N24) M205 M149~a1 M069~ab M288, 3 M136~c M288, 5(N14) [large numerical total] M139 M388 M218 M318, 1(N24) M325~e, 1 3(N39B) 1(N24) 1(N30C) 1(N30D) [...], 3(N14) [x] M103 M295~e [x], [...]

Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.

Transliteration

M157# ,
M391 , 2(N01)
M038~i# M288# , 1(N45) 1(N14) 5(N01) 1(N24)
[...] , 4(N14)
x M288 , 9(N34)# 1(N45)# 2(N01) 2(N39B)
[...] , 1(N24)
M205# M149~a1# M069~ab M288 , 3(N01)
M136~c M288 , 5(N14)
M139# M388 M218 M318#? , 1(N24)
M325~e , 1(N01) 3(N39B) 1(N24) 1(N30C) 1(N30D)
[...] , 3(N14)
x M103# M295~e# x , [...]

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 06, 370. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P008152) — 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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