Position in chronology
MDP 26S, 5240
About this tablet
This is a Proto-Elamite administrative tablet from Susa (modern Shush, Iran), dating to roughly 3100–2900 BCE — among the earliest writing in the world. It records quantities of commodities, each entry pairing one or more undeciphered sign-clusters (identifying the goods or their category) with numerical notations in the Proto-Elamite counting system. The tablet is broken into several rejoining fragments, and many signs survive only partially. Like most Proto-Elamite texts, it cannot yet be 'read' in a linguistic sense — the script remains undeciphered — but its structure clearly mirrors the economic bookkeeping tablets of roughly contemporary Uruk-period Mesopotamia, tracking allocations or receipts of goods under institutional management.
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 commodity entries, each recording a sign-group identifying a type of goods followed by its quantity. The numbers range from small units (a few N01s and N39Bs) to larger amounts — the opening lines record totals as large as 1(N45) and 6(N14), suggesting this may be a summary or consolidated account. Many of the sign-groups identifying the goods are damaged or illegible. The last legible entry reads: [sign-group] M073~b M230~a M096 M288 — quantity: 3 units. Much of the tablet's content is lost to breakage, and the undeciphered nature of Proto-Elamite means the specific commodities recorded here remain unknown.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[...] 1(N45) 6(N14) [...] [...] [...] 1(N14)[?] M305 M388 M110 M242~b M096 [...] , [...] [...] x , 2(N01) 1(N39B)[?] x x , 1(N01)[?] [...] M320 M288 , 1(N01) 1(N39B) 1(N24) [...] M103~2 M254~a x M387~c M288 , 5(N01) 3(N39B) 1(N14)[?] [...] x , 2(N14) 1(N01) 2(N39B) 1(N30D) [...] M259[?] M281~f M096 M288 , 3(N14) 2(N01) [...] [...] , [...] 1(N24) M304 M388 M115 |M296+M296| M288 , 1(N14) 3(N01) 2(N39B) 1(N24) 2(N30C) [...] M288 , 1(N01) 1(N39B) 1(N24) [...] , 2(N01)[?] M073~b M230~a M096 M288 , 3(N01)
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
[...] , 1(N45) 6(N14) [...] [...] , [...] 1(N14)#? M305# M388 M110 M242~b# M096 [...] , [...] [...] x , 2(N01)# 1(N39B)# x x , 1(N01)# [...] M320# M288 , 1(N01) 1(N39B) 1(N24) [...] M103~2# M254~a x M387~c M288 , 5(N01) 3(N39B) 1(N14)? [...] x , 2(N14) 1(N01) 2(N39B) 1(N30D) [...] M259#? M281~f M096 M288 , 3(N14) 2(N01) [...] [...] , [...] 1(N24) M304 M388# M115# |M296+M296| M288# , 1(N14) 3(N01) 2(N39B) 1(N24) 2(N30C) [...] M288# , 1(N01)# 1(N39B) 1(N24) [...] , 2(N01)# M073~b M230~a M096 M288 , 3(N01)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 26S, 5240. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P009338) — 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.