Position in chronology
MDP 31, 036
About this tablet
A proto-Elamite administrative tablet from Susa (modern southwest Iran), dating to the Uruk period, roughly 3100–2900 BCE. It records a series of entries, each assigned a quantity of one unit (N01), with a possible total of seven units at the bottom. Because proto-Elamite script remains undeciphered, the specific commodities or categories listed cannot be read — but the structure is unmistakably that of an accounting document: individual line-items tallied and summed. Tablets like this are among the earliest written records in the world and reflect the sophisticated bureaucratic management of goods or labor at one of ancient Iran's most important administrative centers.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is an accounting list. Each of seven entries records one unit of something — the exact commodity is unknown because the script has not been deciphered — and the final line confirms the total: seven units. The heading sign at the top may indicate the category or institution overseeing the account. The rest of the signs are too poorly understood to render in modern terms, but the arithmetic is clear.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[Heading/category sign M327+X] [M054~i] [M388] [M219] [M048~k] [M096] x x , 1(N01) [M131+M388] [M263] [M218] , 1(N01) [M004] [M058] [M057] , 1(N01) [M387~ee] [M057]# x [M101] [M066]# , 1(N01) [M029~b] [M128] [M096] , 1(N01) [M066]# [M352~n] [M347]? [M297]# , 1(N01) x [M372] , 1(N01) [M388]#? , 7(N01)#
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
|M327+X| , M054~i# M388 M219 M048~k M096 x x , [1(N01)] |M131+M388| M263 M218 , 1(N01) M004 M058 M057 , 1(N01) M387~ee M057# x M101 M066# , 1(N01) M029~b M128 M096 , 1(N01) M066# M352~n M347? M297# , 1(N01) x M372 , 1(N01) M388#? , 7(N01)#
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 31, 036. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P009375) — 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.