Position in chronology
MDP 17, 240
About this tablet
An administrative accounting tablet from ancient Susa (southwestern Iran), dating to the Uruk period — roughly 3400–3100 BCE — and therefore among the earliest written documents in human history. The tablet records quantities of various commodities or goods, each entry pairing an ideographic sign (identifying the item or category) with a numeral in the proto-Elamite or proto-cuneiform notation system. Because the script at this period remains largely undeciphered — the signs are pictographic or logographic but their spoken-language values are unknown — we can describe the structure of the record (entries, quantities, separators) without being able to name the specific goods. This tablet is a rare witness to the very moment when humans first invented writing as a tool for tracking economic transactions.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet lists a series of commodities or institutional categories, each followed by a quantity. The entries read something like: '[damaged item] — 3 units; [item] M254~a M372 — 1 large unit; [item] M032 M387 — 1 unit; [item] M206~d — 2 units; [item group with M253 and M301] — 3 units; M146 M372 — 1 large unit plus 2 small units; M387 M037~a — [quantity lost]; [item] M009 M371 — 2 units (of a larger measure); M263~a M387~ef — 1 unit; [item] M259 M371 M223~d — 1 unit; [final line] — 3 units plus 2 larger units.' The signs identifying the actual goods cannot yet be read with certainty; only the quantities and administrative structure are clear.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[...] x |M377~e+M377~e| M388 M242~n M295~yb[?] M073[?] [...] , [...] [...] , 3(N01) M254~a M372 , 1(N14) M032 M387 M218 M288[?] , 1(N01) M206~d M288 , 2(N01)[?] [...] M253[?] M301 |M296+M296| , 3(N01)[?] M146[?] M372 M288 , 1(N14) 2(N01) M387 M037~a [...] , [...] [...] x M009 M371 , 2(N39B) M263~a M387~ef M288 , 1(N01) M124[?] M218[?] M259 M371 M223~d , 1(N01) [...] , 3(N01) 2(N39B)
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
[...] x |M377~e+M377~e| M388 M242~n M295~yb#? M073#? [...] , [...] [...] , 3(N01) M254~a M372 , 1(N14) M032 M387 M218 M288# , 1(N01) M206~d M288 , 2(N01)# [...] M253# M301 |M296+M296| , 3(N01)# M146# M372 M288 , 1(N14) 2(N01) M387 M037~a [...] , [...] [...] x M009 M371 , 2(N39B) M263~a M387~ef M288 , 1(N01) M124#? M218# M259 M371 M223~d , 1(N01) [...] , 3(N01) 2(N39B)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 17, 240. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P008438) — 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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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.