Position in chronology
MDP 17, 468
About this tablet
This is a Proto-Elamite accounting tablet from Susa (modern Shush, southwestern Iran), dating to roughly 3100–2900 BCE — one of the earliest writing systems in the world, contemporary with but independent of early Sumerian writing in Mesopotamia. The tablet records quantities of goods or commodities under a series of sign-groups whose meanings remain undeciphered, organized in the typical columnar accounting format of Proto-Elamite administration. The numerical system is partially readable: small circular impressions (N01) count individual units, while larger impressed signs (N14, N45) denote higher-order units in a complex numerical hierarchy. Proto-Elamite writing has never been fully deciphered, so what specific goods or persons these entries concern cannot yet be determined — making this tablet a vivid reminder of how much ancient bureaucratic knowledge remains locked away.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
A list of entries, each pairing an unreadable category sign or group of signs with a number: one unit of [unknown commodity], one unit of [sign-group including M124 and M386~a], three units of another [sign-group], one large unit of [sign-group with M384~d], one large unit of [M251~c and M009 group], and further entries partially broken away. A summary line records a total of two large units and six medium units. Several lines are too damaged or incomplete to read. The tablet closes with partial entries that cannot be reconstructed.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[...] , 1 M124 M386~a M263 M048? M096 M288 , 1 [...] M049~d M240~e M038~i M096 M288 , 3 [...] M384~d M001 M288 , 1 (large unit) M251~c M009 M371 M288 , 1 (large unit) [...] M288 , [...] [...] , 2 (large units) 6 (medium units) M391 , [...] [...] , 2 M004 M263~1 [...] , [...]
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
[...] , 1(N01) M124 M386~a M263# M048#? M096# M288# , 1(N01)# [...] M049~d M240~e M038~i M096 M288 , 3(N01)# [...] M384~d# M001 M288 , 1(N14) M251~c M009 M371 M288 , 1(N14) [...] M288# , [...] [...] , 2(N45) 6(N14) M391 , [...] [...] , 2(N01) M004 M263~1 [...] , [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 17, 468. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P008666) — 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.