Position in chronology
MDP 17, 255
About this tablet
A tiny administrative tablet from Susa (in modern Iran) dating to the late Uruk period, roughly 3300–3000 BCE — among the very earliest writing in human history. It records quantities of commodities or rations alongside proto-cuneiform pictographic signs that identify the goods or recipients, in a form typical of the earliest Mesopotamian bookkeeping. The reverse and several fragments appear blank or too worn to read. Tablets like this are the direct ancestors of all later writing: not literature, but accountancy — the bureaucratic engine that drove early urban life.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Translation · reference
Low confidence[...] [...] (sign M024) (sign M264~a), 1 [...] (sign M263~a?), 1 [...] (sign M260), 1 (sign M036 combined with large-unit numeral), 5 (sign M111) (sign M388) [...], [...] [...], 5 [...], (complex metrological notation: N39B unit + N24 unit + N30C unit)
Source: engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-12/v4-interpretation)
Translation · AI engine
read from photo[...] [...] (sign M024) (sign M264~a), 1 [...] (sign M263~a?), 1 [...] (sign M260), 1 (sign M036 combined with large-unit numeral), 5 (sign M111) (sign M388) [...], [...] [...], 5 [...], (complex metrological notation: N39B unit + N24 unit + N30C unit)
4 uncertain terms ↓
- M024, M036, M111, M260, M263~a, M264~a, M388 — Proto-cuneiform logograms whose referents (commodity, institution, person-type) remain undeciphered or only tentatively identified in current scholarship. No standard English rendering is possible.
- N39B, N24, N30C — Metrological numerical signs whose precise commodity-specific values are debated; the combination on the last line may represent a capacity or area measure, but the system cannot be determined without knowing the commodity being counted.
- |M036+1(N14)| — A compound sign consisting of logogram M036 combined with the large-unit numeral N14, possibly indicating a title, institutional category, or modified count. The exact meaning is unclear.
- M263~a#? — The '#' and '?' in the transliteration indicate the reading is uncertain even for the original transliterator; the sign may be damaged or ambiguous on the tablet surface.
Reasoning ↓
The photograph shows several fragments of a small clay tablet (museum number Sb 22418, Louvre). The main inscribed fragment (centre-left of the image) displays bold, deeply impressed wedge-clusters and round numeral impressions characteristic of the proto-cuneiform Uruk period. Several horizontal bands of signs are visible; I can confirm the presence of repeated round impressions consistent with N01 numerals on the right side of the inscribed face, and larger impressed marks toward the upper left of that fragment, consistent with the complex signs recorded in the transliteration. The pencilled '255' visible on the face is a modern catalogue number, not cuneiform. The other fragments — top, left side, right sliver, and the large flat lower piece (showing only the Sb 22418 label sticker) — are either blank, badly worn, or show surfaces with no legible incisions. Because the proto-cuneiform sign values M024, M036, M111, M260, M263, M264, M388 are not yet fully decoded in the scholarly literature, and because many signs on the main fragment are partially eroded and difficult to distinguish at this resolution, the transliteration cannot be independently verified beyond confirming numerical impressions and the general layout. Confidence is therefore low: the numerical signs partially match what I observe, but the commodity/logographic signs are too worn and the resolution too limited for secure identification.
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · prompt 2026-05-12/v4-interpretation · May 15, 2026 · 2133 in / 858 out tokens
Why it matters
Transliteration
[...] , [...] M024 M264~a , 1(N01) [...] M263~a#? , 1(N01)# [...] M260# , 1(N01) |M036+1(N14)| , 5(N01) M111 M388 [...] , [...] [...] , 5(N01)# [...] , 2(N39B)# 1(N24)# 2(N30C)#
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 17, 255. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P008453) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-12/v4-interpretation).
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.