Position in chronology
MDP 06, 391
About this tablet
This is a proto-Elamite administrative tablet from Susa (in modern southwestern Iran), dating to roughly 3100–2900 BCE — among the earliest writing anywhere in the world. It records quantities of commodities or rations under a series of categorical headings, using a numerical system (the N01, N14, N34 signs) that scholars have partly decoded. Proto-Elamite writing remains undeciphered at the level of language — we can read the numbers but not the words — so the specific goods and institutions named here are still unknown. Tablets like this are the bureaucratic backbone of one of the ancient world's first urban societies, tracking the flow of goods through large temple or palace institutions.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet lists several categories of goods or allocations, each followed by a quantity. The entries record amounts such as 8 units of one thing, then 12 units (1×10 + 2×1), then 16, then 24, then another 24, and so on — a running account of commodities distributed or collected. The category signs heading each entry remain undeciphered, so we know the numbers but not what was being counted. The reverse side carries a few more entries, but most of it is too damaged to read.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineObverse (upper face): [M327 — sign, broken / rubric?] [M157] [M374~c] [M009] [M388] [M338] |M228+M320| [M371] [M149~a] , 8(N01) [M376] , 1(N34) 2(N01) |M157+X|? [M388] [M073~b?] |M296+M296| [M461~q] [...] , 1(N14) [M009] [M149~a] , 1(N14) 6(N01) [M376] , 2(N34) 4(N01) |M175+M175| , [...] [M374~c] [M015] [M149~a] , 2(N14) 4(N01) [M376] , 2(N34) [...] Reverse (lower face): [Several sign groups, heavily damaged — partially legible numerical notations visible]
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
M327# , M157 M374~c M009 M388 M338# |M228+M320| M371 M149~a , 8(N01) M376 , 1(N34) 2(N01) |M157+X|? M388 M073~b? |M296+M296| M461~q [...] , 1(N14) M009# M149~a# , 1(N14) 6(N01) M376# , 2(N34) 4(N01) |M175+M175| , [...] M374~c M015 M149~a , 2(N14) 4(N01) M376 , 2(N34)# [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 06, 391. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P008171) — 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.