Position in chronology
MDP 06, 390
About this tablet
A proto-Elamite administrative tablet from Susa (modern Shush, southwestern Iran), dating to around 3100–2900 BCE — among the earliest written documents in human history. It records quantities of undeciphered commodities, probably livestock, grain, or processed goods, tallied under a series of sign-groups that likely represent categories, sub-categories, or responsible officials. The final entry with M317 alone and a very large number (366 units) may represent a total or summary figure. Proto-Elamite writing has never been fully deciphered, so every sign designation here is a label, not a meaning — making this tablet a tantalizing but still partly locked record of an ancient accounting system.
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 entries, each pairing an item or category with a quantity. The amounts range from 2 units up to 366 in what appears to be a summary line. Several entries are damaged or broken and their quantities are lost. The two unidentified signs in one line may be a personal name or a sub-category that can no longer be read. The rest of the final line is too damaged to recover.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[...] M262~1 M301 M317 , 32 units M054[...] , [...] [...] , 2 units M072 , 5 units M387~ca M317 , 50 units M291 [x x] , 19 units M114? M048~i M096 M317 , 111 units M291? M073~b [M317?] , 22 units M054 , 2 units M072 , 10 units M387~ca M317 , 33 units M291 M388 M072 , 12 units M317 , 366 units M291 M054[...] , [...]
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 ↓
- M262~1, M301, M387~ca, M291, M072, M054, M317, M114, M048~i, M096, M073~b, M388 — These are CDLI proto-cuneiform sign designations. They do not have established phonetic readings. Their commodity or institutional referents are hypothesised from parallel Uruk-period tablets but are not confirmed for this specific tablet.
- N14 — Conventionally represents 10× N01 in sexagesimal contexts, but the exact ratio depends on the commodity system. For animals it may be 6× (bisexagesimal). Cannot be resolved without knowing the commodity.
- N34 — A high-order numeral, possibly representing 60× N14 or similar, again system-dependent. Its appearance may signal a totalling entry.
- x x (in M291 x x line) — Two unidentified or illegible signs; the transliteration marks these as unread. Cannot be verified from the photograph.
- M114#? — Damaged and uncertain reading; the # signals damage and ? signals doubt about identification. Cannot confirm from photograph.
Reasoning ↓
The photograph shows the obverse and reverse of a damaged clay tablet (Sb 15212, Louvre), displayed in five views including the four edges and both faces. The obverse (upper image) is the more legible: I can observe clusters of impressed round signs — clearly N01 (small round) and N14 (larger round) numerals — arranged in rows to the right of incised pictographic signs. Several complex incised signs are visible on the left column of the obverse, consistent with the proto-cuneiform sign groups listed in the transliteration (compound signs with linear strokes, small circular impressions, and what appear to be M291-type and M317-type forms). The tablet surface is significantly cracked and broken, with a major diagonal fracture across the upper-left quadrant of the obverse; several sign groups in the upper portion are lost or partially obscured, consistent with the lacunae marked in the transliteration. The reverse (lower image) shows far fewer clear impressions — mostly a column of vertical strokes at the upper left (possibly the tail end of number sequences) and is otherwise largely blank or too eroded to read, which is typical for Uruk-period tablets where only the obverse carries the full account. The edge views show the museum number 'SB 15212' and accession number '390' in modern ink. The transliteration uses CDLI sign-name conventions for proto-cuneiform, which cannot be mapped to phonetic Sumerian or Akkadian readings; the 'translation' layer therefore reproduces the sign-name codes and numerical notations faithfully, as no linguistic decipherment is possible for proto-cuneiform at this level. The N34 sign appearing in line 7 and line 13 likely marks a higher-order total or sub-total. Photo and transliteration are broadly consistent; specific sign identifications in damaged areas (marked # and ?) cannot be independently confirmed from the photograph at this resolution.
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · prompt 2026-05-12/v4-interpretation · May 15, 2026 · 2364 in / 1208 out tokens
Transliteration
[...] M262~1 M301 M317 , 3(N14) 2(N01) M054# [...] , [...] [...] , 2(N01) M072 , 5(N01) M387~ca M317 , 5(N14) M291 x x , 1(N14) 9(N01) M114#? M048~i M096 M317 , 1(N34) 1(N14) 1(N01)# M291#? M073~b [M317?] , 2(N14)# 2(N01) M054 , 2(N01) M072 , 1(N14) M387~ca M317 , 3(N14) 3(N01)#? M291# M388 M072 , 1(N14) 2(N01) M317 , 3(N34) 6(N01) M291 M054# [...] , [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 06, 390. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P008170) — 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.