Position in chronology
MDP 06, 285
About this tablet
This is a small proto-Elamite administrative tablet from Susa (in modern southwestern Iran), dating to the Uruk/proto-Elamite period, one of the earliest phases of writing anywhere. The tablet is broken into several pieces and records a list of entries — most likely goods, animals, or rations — each followed by a numerical notation, in the pattern typical of early bookkeeping. Because proto-Elamite script has never been deciphered as a spoken language, we cannot read actual words for the commodities (labelled here only by sign codes like M288, M219, M124); we can only reconstruct the accounting structure — line after line of 'item, quantity' entries — without knowing what was actually being counted. It is a vivid reminder that writing began not as literature but as a tool for keeping track of things.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a fragmentary account tablet: a scribe at Susa recorded a series of line items, each naming some kind of good or category (using signs we can't yet translate into words) followed by a number. The first surviving line notes a quantity of '1 plus a smaller unit.' Several lines list different sign-groups each followed by a single unit — entries 5 through 10 each simply record '1' of some commodity. A couple of lines preserve larger counts (like '2 plus 1' of another measure). The tablet is broken at both ends and in the middle, so many entries are only partially preserved or missing their commodity sign, their number, or both; the overall subject of the account cannot be recovered because the script itself has not been deciphered.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine(Fragment, obverse column, badly broken — text preserved only as isolated signs and numerals) 1. [......], [......] — 1(N01) 1(N24) 2. x, M097~h, M218~b, M250~ba(?), [......], [......] 3. [......], M288(?) — 2(N39B) 1(N24) 4. x, M242~b, M003~b — 1(N01) [......] 5. [......], M288 — 1(N01) 6. M219, M295~b(?), M220, M054 — 1(N01) 7. [......], M370, M124 — 1(N01) 8. M203~a, M124 — 1(N01) 9. [......], [......] — 1(N01) 10. M288 — 1(N01) 11. M124(?), M009(?), [......], [......] 12. [......] — 1(N24) 13. M218, [......], [......]
Our translation engine — Sonnet 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
[...] , [...] 1(N01)# 1(N24) x M097~h M218~b M250~ba#? [...] , [...] [...] M288#? , 2(N39B) 1(N24) x M242~b# M003~b , 1(N01) [...] [...] M288 , 1(N01) M219# M295~b#? M220 M054 , 1(N01)# [...] M370 M124 , 1(N01) M203~a M124 , 1(N01)# [...] , [...] 1(N01) M288 , 1(N01) M124#? M009#? [...] , [...] [...] , 1(N24) M218# [...] , [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 06, 285. This record has no stored scholarly English translation; the existence of published translations has not been checked; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P008077) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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Related sources
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