Position in chronology
MDP 17, 076
About this tablet
One of the oldest written documents in human history, this small clay tablet comes from Susa (in modern southwest Iran) and dates to the late Uruk period, roughly 3200–3000 BCE. It is an administrative accounting record — a list of commodities and their quantities, recorded with proto-cuneiform signs before writing had fully developed into a readable language. The commodity signs are largely undeciphered, but the numerical notations are clear, using the standard archaic systems for counting discrete objects and measuring capacity or area. This is the ancient bureaucracy at its very beginnings: a record-keeper tallying goods — possibly animals, vessels, or agricultural products — for an institutional household.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet records a list of several different commodities, each assigned a quantity using the archaic numerical system. The first entry notes one unit of an unidentified item; subsequent entries record two or more units of various unidentified goods. Most of the sign names for the items being counted remain undeciphered. The last entry includes an additional sign that could not be read. The overall picture is a short administrative inventory, probably tracking goods received or disbursed by a temple or large household. Several entries are damaged or uncertain, and the precise nature of what is being counted is not yet known.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[Sign M103?], M380, M387, M261~a — 1 unit (N01) [M260~1?] — 2 units (N01), 2 units (N39B) M387~ef, M248~a?, M010~6 — 2 units (N30C) [M036 + 1(N39C)], M297 — 2 units (N39B), 1 unit (N24@b?) M387, M346? — 2 units (N01) M036 — 2 units (N39B), 1 unit (N24@b?) M246~s — 2 units (N39B) [M036 + 1(N39B)], [x] — 2 units (N39B), 1 unit (N39B@b), 2 units (N30C?)
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
M103#? , M380 M387 M261~a , 1(N01) M260~1# , 2(N01) 2(N39B) M387~ef M248~a#? M010~6 , 2(N30C) |M036+1(N39C)| M297 , 2(N39B) 1(N24@b)#? M387 M346# , 2(N01) M036 , 2(N39B) 1(N24@b)#? M246~s , 2(N39B) |M036+1(N39B)| x , 2(N39B) 1(N39B@b) 2(N30C)#
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 17, 076. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P008274) — 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.