Position in chronology
MDP 06, 399
About this tablet
This is one of the earliest administrative records in human history, written in proto-Elamite script at Susa (in modern southwest Iran) around 3100–2900 BCE — roughly the same era as the very first writing in Mesopotamia. It is an accounting tablet: each line pairs an undeciphered commodity or category sign with a quantity expressed in the proto-Elamite number system. The signs cannot yet be read as words in any known language, because proto-Elamite remains undeciphered, but the numerical structure is clear enough to confirm this is a stock or allocation list — the kind of record a temple or palace administrator would keep to track goods moving in and out of a storehouse. Its survival at Susa, the great urban centre of ancient Elam, makes it a direct witness to the independent invention of writing and bureaucracy in that region.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet is a ledger entry whose commodity labels we cannot yet read. The header names an institution or category. Then, line by line, it records quantities against different types of goods or animals: roughly 89 units of one commodity, over 191 of another, 42 of a third, and so on through nine entries, with the final lines listing more complex fractional or mixed quantities. The tablet is partially damaged and one line's label is lost. The rest of the numbers survive, but without the ability to read the sign-labels, we know only the amounts — not what was being counted.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineM240~d , M054 M388 , 8(N14) 9(N01) M041~g M388 , [2(N23)] 7(N14) 1(N01) M123~a M054 , 4(N23) 2(N01) M041~g M388 , 5(N23) 6(N14) 5(N01) M054 M054 M388 , 5(N14) 5(N01) M051~a M388 , 3(N14) [... M388] , 1(N51) 4(N23) 1(N14) 2(N01) M297~b , 1(N34) 1(N45) 7(N14) 2(N39B) M219~s , 3(N14) 4(N01) 2(N39B) 1(N24) 2(N30C) --- Numerical values where numerals are decipherable --- Header/label: [M240~d — institution or category heading, undeciphered] Line 1: [M054] + [M388]: 89 units (approx.) Line 2: [M041~g] + [M388]: [2×60] + 71 units (approx.) Line 3: [M123~a] + [M054]: 4×10 + 2 units Line 4: [M041~g] + [M388]: 5×60 + 65 + 5 units Line 5: [M054] + [M054] + [M388]: 55 + 5 units Line 6: [M051~a] + [M388]: 30 units Line 7: [broken] + [M388]: 1(N51) + 4×10 + 1×10 + 2 units Line 8: [M297~b]: 1(N34) + 1(N45) + 70 + 2(N39B) units Line 9: [M219~s]: 30 + 4 + 2(N39B) + 1(N24) + 2(N30C) units
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
M240~d , M054 M388 , 8(N14) 9(N01) M041~g M388# , [2(N23)] 7(N14) 1(N01) M123~a M054 , 4(N23) 2(N01) M041~g M388 , 5(N23) 6(N14) 5(N01) M054 M054 M388 , 5(N14) 5(N01) M051~a M388 , 3(N14) [... M388] , 1(N51)# 4(N23) 1(N14) 2(N01) M297~b , 1(N34)# 1(N45) 7(N14) 2(N39B) M219~s , 3(N14)# 4(N01) 2(N39B) 1(N24) 2(N30C)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 06, 399. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P008179) — 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.