Position in chronology
MDP 06, 388
About this tablet
An administrative accounting tablet from ancient Susa (modern southwestern Iran), dating to the late Uruk period (roughly 3200–3000 BCE), written in proto-Elamite or early proto-cuneiform script — one of the earliest writing systems in the world. The tablet records quantities of several distinct commodities or categories of goods under a heading sign, with a final summation line. Like similar tablets from Susa and Uruk, it represents the very beginning of written record-keeping: institutional accountants tracking goods — likely animals, rations, or raw materials — across multiple sub-categories, with a running total. The signs remain largely undeciphered, but the numerical structure is clear.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet lists several categories of goods or commodities, each assigned a numerical quantity: one unit of a first category, five units each of two further categories, four units each of two more, and three units of another. The final lines appear to record a total or summary figure using a more complex numerical notation. The specific nature of the commodities — what exactly is being counted — cannot yet be read, as the word-signs remain undeciphered. What survives is the skeleton of a careful accounting exercise, the arithmetic intact even when the words are not.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[Heading/rubric: M157] [Line 1:] M387~c M384~d M054 M387~l M263~b1 — 1 unit [Line 2:] [Sign M036+1(N30D)] — 5 units [Line 3:] M388 M265~f — 5 units [Line 4:] M354 — 5 units [Line 5:] M122~6 M265~f — 4 units [Line 6:] M354 — 4 units [Line 7:] M103 M111~a M323# M354 — 3 units# [Line 8 / totalling entry:] M297 — 2(N39B) 2(N30C) 1(N30D) 1(N39C) [Final numeral:] 1(N34)
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
M157 , M387~c M384~d M054 M387~l M263~b1 , 1(N01) |M036+1(N30D)| , 5(N01) M388 M265~f , 5(N01) M354 , 5(N01) M122~6 M265~f , 4(N01) M354 , 4(N01) M103 M111~a M323# M354 , 3(N01)# M297 , 2(N39B) 2(N30C) 1(N30D) 1(N39C) 1(N34)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 06, 388. 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 (P008168) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-28/v6-glossary-aware).
Related tablets
Related sources
An early example of administrative writing from Uruk. Its fragmentary numerical entries and commodity signs document record-keeping during the formative period of writing.
A surviving administrative record of named people and livestock in the Ur III period. Together with other archives, such accounts reveal the work of managing animals, deliveries and institutional responsibility.