Position in chronology
MDP 06, 392
About this tablet
A small proto-Elamite accounting tablet from Susa (southwestern Iran), dating to roughly 3200–2900 BCE — one of the world's earliest writing systems, still largely undeciphered. The tablet records quantities of several different commodities or categories of goods, each entry paired with a numeral written in the proto-Elamite notation system. Like most proto-Elamite documents, it appears to be an administrative tally, tracking disbursements, receipts, or inventories within a complex urban economy. Because proto-Elamite script remains undeciphered, we can read the numbers but cannot determine what specific goods or animals are being counted.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet lists several distinct categories of goods, each followed by a count: the first entry records two units of something (signs M387~c, M387~c, M370, and two further uncertain signs), the second records one unit of a different category (a compound sign plus two uncertain signs), the third records approximately two units of an unidentifiable entry, the fourth three units of sign M297~b, and the fifth three larger units plus one smaller unit of M297~b, with text following that is now lost. A final line records a single large-unit numeral (1 N34). What exactly is being counted — animals, grain, vessels, personnel — remains unknown, as the script has not been deciphered.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineLine 1: [M387~c] [M387~c] [M370] [M153?] [M220?] , 2(N39B) Line 2: [|M175+M387~c|] [M317?] [M221?] , 1(N39B) Line 3: [x] [x] , 2(N39B)? Line 4: [M297~b?] , 3(N39B) Line 5: [M297~b] , 3(N01) 1(N39B)? [...] Line 6: 1(N34)
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Transliteration
M387~c M387~c M370 M153#? M220# , 2(N39B) |M175+M387~c| M317#? M221# , 1(N39B) x x , 2(N39B)#? M297~b# , 3(N39B) M297~b , 3(N01) 1(N39B)# [...] 1(N34)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 06, 392. 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 (P008172) — 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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