Position in chronology
MDP 17, 248
About this tablet
A proto-Elamite administrative tablet from Susa, dating to roughly 3100–2900 BCE — among the oldest writing systems in the world, predating even the earliest Mesopotamian cuneiform by a generation or so. The text records quantities of goods or commodities, each line pairing one or more category signs with a numerical count expressed in the sexagesimal-like proto-Elamite notation. The specific goods cannot be identified with certainty because proto-Elamite script remains undeciphered; what we can read are the numbers and the structural pattern of the accounting. It is a snapshot of a complex urban economy at Susa, where scribes were developing written record-keeping independently of — but almost simultaneously with — their counterparts in Mesopotamia.
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, each entry pairing one or more category signs with a count. The entries record amounts such as 3 units, 5 units, 15 units, and 13 units against various goods or sub-categories. Because proto-Elamite writing remains undeciphered, we can read the numbers clearly but cannot name what is being counted. Several lines are too damaged or broken to read at all. The back of the tablet is uninscribed or too worn to show text.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[...] x , 3 M146 x M101 , 5 M207 M057 [...] , [...] [...] M228~d M329 M101 , 3 M259 M219 M101 , 3 [...] , 1(large) 5(medium) M146 M371 M367 , 1(large) 5(medium) M301 M218 M329 x , 1 [...] [...] , 1(large) x M390 M218 M367 , 1(large) 5(medium) x [...] M371 , 1(large) 3(medium) [...] x M097~h M218 M367 , 1(large) 3(medium) M308~e [...] , [...] [...] M367 , 1(medium) M057 |M218+X| M367 , 1(large) 5(medium)
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
[...] x , 3(N01) M146 x M101# , 5(N01) M207 M057# [...] , [...] [...] M228~d M329 M101 , 3(N01) M259# M219# M101# , 3(N01) [...] , 1(N23) 5(N14) M146 M371 M367#? , 1(N23) 5(N14) M301 M218 M329#? x , 1(N01)# [...] [...] , 1(N23) x M390 M218#? M367# , 1(N23) 5(N14) x [...] M371#? , 1(N23) 3(N14) [...] x M097~h# M218 M367# , 1(N23) 3(N14) M308~e [...] , [...] [...] M367 , 1(N14) M057 |M218+X| M367 , 1(N23)# 5(N14)#
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 17, 248. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P008446) — 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.