Position in chronology
MDP 17, 219
About this tablet
A small proto-Elamite accounting tablet from Susa (modern Shush, Iran), dating to roughly 3100–2900 BCE — among the earliest experiments in writing anywhere in the world. The tablet records quantities of goods or commodities using a system of numerical signs combined with pictographic commodity markers, none of which can yet be fully read in any spoken language. It is part of the proto-Elamite archive at Susa, a site where an independent writing system emerged in parallel with — but distinct from — the better-known Sumerian cuneiform of Mesopotamia. Despite being fragmentary and only partially deciphered, tablets like this one are windows into the origins of literacy and complex economic administration.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is an inventory or accounting record listing several commodities — their identities not yet fully deciphered — each paired with a quantity. The final line appears to give a total: 1 large unit, 3 medium units, 1 smaller unit, and 2 fractional units of the commodity marked by the recurring category sign. Several entries at the top and middle of the tablet are broken away or too damaged to read. The rest of the signs remain undeciphered.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[...] , [M263?] [M387~ef] [M066] [M288] , 4(N39B) [M219] [M371~a] , 1(N24) [...] [...] [x] [M011] [M288] , 1(N39B) 2(N30C) [M356] [M246~s] [...] , [...] [...] , 1(N39B@c) [M379] , 2(N30C) [M504] , 1(N34) [...] [M288] , 1(N01) 3(N39B) 1(N24) 2(N30C) [x]
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
[...] , M263#? M387~ef M066 M288 , 4(N39B) M219 M371~a , 1(N24) [...] [...] x M011 M288 , 1(N39B) 2(N30C) M356 M246~s [...] , [...] [...] , 1(N39B@c) M379 , 2(N30C) M504 , 1(N34)# [...] M288 , 1(N01) 3(N39B) 1(N24) 2(N30C) x
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 17, 219. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P008417) — 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.