Position in chronology
MDP 17, 061
About this tablet
A small proto-Elamite administrative tablet from Susa (modern southwest Iran), dating to roughly 3100–2900 BCE — among the earliest writing systems ever used. It is a commodity accounting record: a series of sign groups, each paired with a numeral, tabulating quantities of goods or categories of items under what may be a heading or label sign. Because proto-Elamite script remains largely undeciphered, the specific commodities and the names of any persons involved cannot be read with certainty. Tablets like this one were the accounting infrastructure of a complex urban economy at Susa, recording the movement of goods through a redistributive institution — probably a temple storehouse or palace administration.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is an inventory record, though the exact goods cannot be named because the script has not been fully deciphered. Each line lists a category of commodity followed by a quantity: one unit of one thing, five of another, two of something else, and so on through roughly a dozen entries. A repeated sign (M354) may mark sub-totals or commodity classes. The final line records four units of an unidentified item (M297~b), and the tablet closes with a single sign (M387) whose numeral is broken away. The overall sense is a carefully structured tally — the kind of ledger a storeroom official would use to track what came in or went out.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[Header/label sign: M024~1?] [Sign group: M304 + M260], 1 [M354], 1(N14) [M059~d + M251], 1 [M354], 5 [x + M260], 1 [M354], 5 [x x], 2 [M354], 4 [x x], 1 [M354], 2 [M387~b + M387~b + M260], 1 [M354], 2 [M297~b], 4(N39B) [M387], —
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 photo6 uncertain terms ↓
- M024~1? — Header or rubric sign; identity uncertain (marked with '?' in transliteration). May be a commodity classifier or account label; cannot be read from photo.
- M304, M260, M059~d, M251, M297~b, M387~b — Proto-cuneiform signs whose precise meanings remain debated or unknown. Many Uruk-period pictographic signs have no confirmed Sumerian reading or semantic equivalent. Translations given here are sign-labels only, not semantic renderings.
- M354 — Appears repeatedly as a sub-total or category divider marker; its precise function (subtotal line, commodity class, or something else) is uncertain. Damaged ('#') in most occurrences.
- N14 — Higher-order numerical sign; conventionally ~10× N01 in sexagesimal contexts, but exact value depends on which metrological system applies to the commodity in question — unknown here.
- 4(N39B) — N39B is an elongated impressed numeral used in specific Uruk-period metrological systems, possibly for area or capacity. Its commodity-specific value in this context is debated.
- M387 (final line) — Appears alone at the end without a numeral; may function as a total or closing marker, or could be a commodity sign for the preceding entry. Interpretation uncertain.
Reasoning ↓
The photograph shows a small, rounded rectangular tablet displayed in five views (obverse, reverse, left edge, right edge, and top). The obverse (upper central image) is the most legible: wedge-impressions and circular stylus-marks are visible, consistent with proto-cuneiform administrative notation. Several round impressed numerals (N01-type dots) can be discerned in the right-hand column, and linear impressed signs appear in the left column, broadly consistent with the transliteration's structure of sign + numeral pairs. The reverse (lower central image) shows shallower, more worn impressions; some sign clusters are visible but individual signs cannot be confidently identified from the photo at this resolution. The edge views show further impressed signs but surface erosion and the small scale make independent reading impossible. The '#' damage notations throughout the transliteration are corroborated by the photo's evidence of surface wear, small holes/pits, and indistinct wedges in several areas. The M024~1?, M304, M260, M354, M059~d, M251, M297~b, and M387 sign identifications cannot be independently verified from the photo alone at this resolution — they rely entirely on the scholar-provided transliteration. The numerical signs (N01 round impressions) are the most visually confirmable elements. The N39B notation for M297~b's count is unusual and its commodity-specific value remains debated in the literature on proto-cuneiform metrology (cf. Englund & Grégoire, MDP 17).
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · prompt 2026-05-12/v4-interpretation · May 15, 2026 · 2142 in / 1234 out tokens
Transliteration
M024~1? , M304 M260# , 1(N01) M354 , 1(N14) M059~d M251# , 1(N01) M354 , 5(N01) x M260 , 1(N01) M354 , 5(N01) x x , 2(N01) M354# , 4(N01)# x x , 1(N01) M354# , 2(N01) M387~b# M387~b# M260# , 1(N01) M354# , 2(N01) M297~b# , 4(N39B) M387 ,
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 17, 061. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P008259) — 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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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.