Position in chronology
MDP 26S, 4805
About this tablet
This is a proto-Elamite administrative tablet from Susa (in modern southwest Iran), dating to roughly 3100–2900 BCE — among the very earliest writing systems ever used. It records quantities of commodities or categories of goods using a notation system that has not yet been fully deciphered; scholars can read the numerals but the signs identifying what is being counted remain largely unknown. The tablet is fragmentary and broken in at least two pieces, but enough survives to confirm it is a standard accounting document of the kind used by Elamite administrators to track distributions or inventories. It is held at the Louvre and is a vivid example of how writing was invented not for literature or religion, but for bookkeeping.
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 — exactly what they are we cannot yet say, since the proto-Elamite signs naming them have not been deciphered — each followed by a count. One item is tallied as 1 unit; another as 1 unit; a third entry records 1 smaller unit and 2 larger units. Further entries give counts of 1, then 5, then 3 units of other unidentified categories. One group is recorded at 1 of a larger denomination, and another complex entry (involving several undeciphered signs) totals 1 unit. The final legible entry records 1 unit, 4 of a sub-denomination, and 1 of a smaller sub-unit. Several lines are too broken to read.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineLine 1: [M051~b M264~a] — 1 (unit) Line 2: [M262~ba] — 1 (unit) Line 3: [...] — 1 (N24 unit), 2 (larger units) Line 4: [M051~b M263~b] — 1 (unit) Line 5: [...] — 5 (units) Line 6: [M033~b M048~c M263~b?] — 3 (units) Line 7: [M036 + 1(N30D)] — 1 (N14 unit) Line 8: [M305+X]? [M388]? [M009] [M004] [M218] [M263~b1] — 1 (unit) Line 9: [M036 + 1(N30D)] — 5 (units) Line 10: [M297~b] — 1 (unit), 4 (N39B sub-units), 1 (N24 sub-unit)
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
M051~b# M264~a , 1(N01) M262~ba# , 1(N01) [...] , 1(N24)# 2(N30C) M051~b# M263~b , 1(N01) [...] , 5(N01) M033~b M048~c M263~b#? , 3(N01) |M036+1(N30D)| , 1(N14) |M305+X|? M388#? M009 M004 M218 M263~b1 , 1(N01) |M036+1(N30D)| , 5(N01) M297~b# , 1(N01) 4(N39B) 1(N24)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 26S, 4805. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P009240) — 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.