Position in chronology
MDP 31, 007
About this tablet
This is a proto-Elamite or very early proto-cuneiform administrative tablet from Susa (modern Shush, Iran), dating to roughly 3200–3000 BCE — among the earliest written documents in the world. It records quantities of several undeciphered commodity types using a numerical notation system of large and small units, organized under a heading sign. Because proto-Elamite script remains undeciphered, we can read the numbers clearly but cannot identify what goods are being counted or who the parties involved were. Tablets like this one were the bookkeeping tools of an emerging urban economy, tracking the flow of goods through a central institution — likely a temple or palace storeroom.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet is an inventory list. Under a heading sign whose meaning we cannot yet read, it records several different commodities (likewise unnamed to us), each with a quantity: the first commodity in 2 large and 3 medium units; a second in 1 capacity measure and 2 sub-units; a third in matching measures; a fourth commodity in 1 large and 1 medium unit; a fifth in 1 medium and 1 capacity unit; and a final entry in 1 medium and 1 capacity unit. The numbers are clear; what the goods actually are remains unknown.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineM247~d , M297~bc# , 2(N01) 3(N39B) |M001+M379~d| , 1(N24) 2(N30C) M297~b# , 1(N24@b) 2(N30C@b) M314 , 1(N01)# 1(N39B) |M003~b+M379~c| , 1(N39B) 1(N24)#? M297~b# , 1(N39B@b) 1(N24@b) [Header/classifier sign: M247~d] [Commodity M297~bc]: 2 large units, 3 medium units [Compound sign M001+M379~d]: 1 capacity unit (N24), 2 sub-units (N30C) [Commodity M297~b]: 1 capacity unit (N24@b), 2 sub-units (N30C@b) [Commodity M314]: 1 large unit, 1 medium unit [Compound sign M003~b+M379~c]: 1 medium unit, 1 capacity unit [Commodity M297~b]: 1 medium unit (N39B@b), 1 capacity unit (N24@b)
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
M247~d , M297~bc# , 2(N01) 3(N39B) |M001+M379~d| , 1(N24) 2(N30C) M297~b# , 1(N24@b) 2(N30C@b) M314 , 1(N01)# 1(N39B) |M003~b+M379~c| , 1(N39B) 1(N24)#? M297~b# , 1(N39B@b) 1(N24@b)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 31, 007. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P009347) — 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.