Position in chronology
MDP 06, 299
About this tablet
This is a proto-Elamite numerical account tablet from Susa, dating to the late fourth millennium BCE — one of the earliest bureaucratic documents in the world, roughly contemporary with the invention of writing itself. It records a series of entries, each pairing a recurring sign (here labeled M288, of unresolved meaning) with strings of numeral impressions in several different counting systems, and closes with what appears to be a summary or total. The proto-Elamite script used on tablets like this remains largely undeciphered outside of its numeral notation, so we can read the quantities with confidence but not the commodity or transaction they describe. It is a fragment of the accounting apparatus of an early Elamite city administration, likely tracking rations, goods, or labor.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This broken clay tablet is an ancient accounting record from Susa, written in the proto-Elamite script — a system that predates readable writing as we know it and is still not fully decoded. What survives are several lines, each beginning with a partly broken heading (possibly a name, category, or place, now lost) followed by a recurring sign, tentatively labeled 'M288,' whose exact meaning — commodity, classifier, or dividing mark — scholars haven't pinned down. After it come strings of numeral marks in different counting systems, presumably tallying quantities of goods, rations, or people. The tablet ends with a final line pairing that same sign with a single number, likely a summary total for everything listed above. Much of the tablet — including the very beginnings of most lines — is broken away, so the specific transaction being recorded cannot be recovered.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine(Column/line 1) [......], [......] 1(N24) 1(N30C) 1(N30D) 1(N39C) (Column/line 2) [sign] M288, 1(N45) 4(N14) [......] (Column/line 3) [......] M288, 9(N14) 4(N01) 3(N39B) [......] (Column/line 4) [......], [......] 2(N01) 3(N39B) 1(N24) 2(N30C) [......] (Column/line 5) [......], [......] 1(N30C) 1(N30D) 1(N39C) (Total line) M288, 3(N34)
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(N24)# 1(N30C) 1(N30D) 1(N39C) M288 , 1(N45) 4(N14)# [...] [...] M288 , 9(N14) 4(N01) 3(N39B) [...] [...] , [...] 2(N01)# 3(N39B) 1(N24) 2(N30C) [...] [...] , [...] 1(N30C)# 1(N30D) 1(N39C) M288 , 3(N34)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 06, 299. 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 (P008088) — 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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