Position in chronology
MDP 17, 153
About this tablet
This is a proto-Elamite administrative tablet from Susa (modern southwest Iran), dating to approximately 3100–2900 BCE — one of the earliest forms of writing ever used. It records a series of commodity entries, each followed by a small numeral (2 units), with a closing total line using a larger numerical unit. The signs cannot yet be read phonetically because proto-Elamite remains undeciphered, but the structure — commodity classifier, quantity, repeated for several lines, then summed — is instantly recognizable as ancient accountancy. Tablets like this were the administrative backbone of one of the world's earliest urban economies, tracking goods and resources flowing through the great institutional centers of ancient Iran.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet lists six separate entries, each recording what appears to be a category of goods or commodities — the exact nature of which we cannot yet determine, since proto-Elamite writing remains undeciphered. Each entry carries a count of 2 units. At the bottom, a summary line tallies the total using a larger unit of measure (2 N14, likely equivalent to the combined smaller entries above). Think of it as a short stockroom inventory: six different items, two of each, totaled at the end. The rest of the meaning is locked away in a script that scholars have not yet fully cracked.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[Header/account marker: M327?] [Line 1:] M388 | M106~2+M288 | M386? M124 M218 M386? M240~e M096 M288~i — 2(N01) [Line 2:] M124 M217 M259 M218 M288~i — 2(N01) [Line 3:] M124 M352~n M254~a M096 M288~i — 2(N01) [Line 4:] M219 M387~c M066 M288~i — 2(N01) [Line 5:] M124 M096? M227 M066? M288~i — 2(N01) [Line 6:] M124 M372 | M218+M099 | M371 | M131+M388 | [x] M218 M288~i — 2(N01) [Total line:] M288~i — 2(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 photo6 uncertain terms ↓
- M288~i — Repeated qualifier or commodity sign; its precise semantic value (a type of goods, a person-category, a qualifier such as 'ration' or 'allocation') is not established. The '~i' variant notation indicates a specific sub-form whose distinction from the base sign is not yet semantically resolved.
- M218 — Functions as a subtotal or section-divider in parallel texts; may also carry commodity meaning. Cannot be translated as a word.
- N14 — Conventionally 10× N01 in sexagesimal counting, giving a total of 20 units, but the commodity-specific numerical system here could assign a different value; the actual magnitude is uncertain.
- M327? — Opening sign on obverse, read with a query in the transliteration; too damaged in the photo to confirm. May be a heading, institutional name, or date formula.
- |M106~2+M288|, |M218+M099|, |M131+M388| — Compound (ligature) signs; their combined semantic value is unknown beyond the individual components, which are themselves only partially decoded.
- M386?, M096?, M066? — Signs read with uncertainty in the transliteration (query marks); surface erosion prevents independent confirmation from the photograph.
Reasoning ↓
Photo examined directly. The obverse (upper image) shows a heavily worn, cracked clay surface with multiple rows of impressed and incised proto-cuneiform signs; surface erosion and a central crack running horizontally make many individual wedge clusters difficult to read with certainty. The numerical signs — small round impressions consistent with N01 (single units) and one larger impression consistent with N14 (higher-order unit) — are visible in the right-hand column and broadly confirm the transliteration's repeated '2(N01)' and final '2(N14)'. Complex sign clusters in the left-hand portions of each line are too eroded and small at this resolution to verify against individual M-numbers. The reverse (lower image) shows two round impressions (possibly numerical or seal-related) in the upper left and a single complex sign cluster in the centre, consistent with a summary or seal impression field; this matches the final summary line in the transliteration. The sign-list identifiers (M-numbers) follow the Englund–Grégoire MDP 17 / CDLI proto-Elamite / proto-cuneiform sign system; because proto-cuneiform signs of this period are only partially decoded, a word-for-word English translation is not possible — the rendering above reflects the structural logic (entries + total) rather than lexical content. Confidence is low because of surface damage, the intrinsic undecipherability of many proto-cuneiform signs, and the impossibility of verifying individual complex sign clusters from the available photograph.
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · prompt 2026-05-12/v4-interpretation · May 15, 2026 · 1993 in / 1297 out tokens
Transliteration
M327? , M388 |M106~2+M288| M386? M124 M218 M386? M240~e M096 M288~i# , 2(N01) M124 M217 M259 M218 M288~i , 2(N01) M124 M352~n M254~a M096 M288~i , 2(N01) M219 M387~c M066 M288~i , 2(N01) M124 M096? M227 M066? M288~i , 2(N01) M124 M372 |M218+M099| M371 |M131+M388| x M218 M288~i , 2(N01)# M288~i , 2(N14)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 17, 153. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P008351) — 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.