Position in chronology
MDP 17, 149
About this tablet
A Proto-Elamite administrative tablet from Susa, dating to the late fourth millennium BCE — roughly contemporary with the earliest writing in Mesopotamia. It records quantities of unidentified commodities, each entry pairing a commodity sign with a numerical notation, with a recurrent sign (M354) appearing to mark sub-totals or categories. Proto-Elamite writing remains undeciphered: we can read the numbers and recognize the signs structurally, but we cannot yet say what goods or animals are being counted. Tablets like this are among the earliest bureaucratic records on earth, revealing a sophisticated system of accounting even before the script can be fully read.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a list of commodities with their quantities. Several categories of goods — their exact nature unknown, since the script is still undeciphered — are recorded, each with associated numerical values (using the Proto-Elamite number signs). A recurring marker appears after each group, likely indicating a sub-total or category boundary. The first entry is damaged and partially lost; several other lines record an unidentified item. The final entries show larger numerical values. The rest of the detail is lost to damage.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[...] , 4(N39B) [x] , 1(N39B@c) 1(N39B) [M327?] , 1(N39B@c) M354 , 1(N14) M136~i , 1(N39B@c) 2(N39B) M354 , 1(N14) [x] , 1(N39B@c) M354 , 1(N14) M386~d , 1(N39B@c) 1(N39B) [x] , [n] 1(N39B) |M195+M057|? , 1(N01@c) 3(N39B@c) M001 , 1(N01) 3(N39B) M354 , 3(N14)
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 photo9 uncertain terms ↓
- N39B — An elongated impressed numeral whose commodity-specific value is debated; it may count area, capacity, or another measure depending on context, which is lost here.
- N14 — A higher-order round impressed sign; conventionally ~10× N01 in the sexagesimal system, but this ratio varies by commodity system and cannot be fixed without knowing the commodity.
- N39B@c — The '@c' modifier indicates a specific variant or orientation of N39B; its precise distinction from plain N39B is not resolved in the literature.
- M327#? — Both '#' (damaged) and '?' (uncertain identification) are flagged by the editor; the commodity this sign designates is unknown from this context.
- M354 — Recurs multiple times; its commodity referent is unclear. The '#' on several instances signals partial preservation.
- M136~i — The '~i' indicates a sub-variant of sign M136; identification is tentative given surface damage.
- M386~d — Sub-variant of M386; commodity referent unknown in this context.
- |M195+M057|#? — A compound sign (two signs written together), both damaged and uncertainly identified; such compound commodity signs are common in proto-cuneiform but often resist precise interpretation.
- M001 — One of the most common proto-cuneiform signs, sometimes associated with grain or other staple goods, but context-dependent and not securely identified here.
Reasoning ↓
The photograph shows two main faces of a heavily damaged, pale clay tablet (museum number Sb 22327, visible on the label strip at top). The surface is pitted with dark mineral deposits, cracked, and eroded throughout. On the obverse (upper large fragment), I can make out groups of impressed circular/oval impressions — consistent with N39B elongated numerals and N01/N14 round impressions — alongside deeply incised or impressed pictographic signs. The lower fragment (reverse) similarly shows rows of impressed wedge-clusters and round impressions. However, the resolution and surface condition make it impossible to confidently identify individual commodity signs (M327, M354, M136~i, M386~d, M195+M057, M001) from the photograph alone; the transliteration's '#' and '?' flags are well-warranted. The arrangement of signs in two columns (commodity sign left, numerals right) is consistent with the standard Uruk/proto-Elamite accounting tablet format. No discrepancies between the photo and the transliteration can be specifically identified, but neither can the transliteration be confirmed sign by sign; the photo broadly corroborates the numerical impression clusters. Scholarly context: this tablet belongs to the corpus published in Mémoires de la Délégation en Perse (MDP) vol. 17, part of the proto-cuneiform/proto-Elamite administrative tradition at Susa.
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · prompt 2026-05-12/v4-interpretation · May 15, 2026 · 2118 in / 1277 out tokens
Transliteration
[...] , 4(N39B)# x , 1(N39B@c) 1(N39B) M327#? , 1(N39B@c) M354 , 1(N14) M136~i , 1(N39B@c) 2(N39B)# M354# , 1(N14)# x , 1(N39B@c) M354 , 1(N14) M386~d , 1(N39B@c) 1(N39B) x , n 1(N39B) |M195+M057|#? , 1(N01@c) 3(N39B@c) M001 , 1(N01) 3(N39B)# M354 , 3(N14)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 17, 149. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P008347) — 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.