Position in chronology
MDP 17, 259
About this tablet
A small administrative account from Susa in southwestern Iran, written around 3100–2900 BCE in the proto-Elamite script — one of the world's earliest writing systems and still largely undeciphered. The scribe recorded quantities of goods (the numbers are readable, the commodity signs are not) under what appear to be institutional or product labels. Tablets like this show that Susa ran a bookkeeping economy on the Mesopotamian model even before anyone could write connected sentences.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a ledger of five entries. One unit of a first commodity; one large-measure unit of a second commodity marked with a qualifying label; after a break, another large-measure unit covering a group of three related items with the same qualifying label; then one grain-measure of goods listed under a category heading; and finally what looks like a summary line whose quantity is lost. We can read every number, but not one of the product names — the proto-Elamite signs for the goods themselves have never been deciphered. The end of the tablet is broken away.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine(Proto-Elamite account; the commodity signs are undeciphered and are given by their sign numbers) Entry 1: (item) M217~m — 1 (N01 unit). Entry 2: (item) M387~a, qualified by M036 with 1 (N30D) — 1 (N14 unit, a higher-order count). Entry 3: [break] (items) M361~c1, M361~b1, M080~ca, qualified by M036 with 1 (N30D) — 1 (N14 unit)#. Entry 4: [break] (heading/items) M341#, M038~a#, M296# — 1 (N39B, a capacity/grain-measure unit). Entry 5 (summary?): M038~a# [break] — [quantity lost]. (The remainder of the tablet is broken.)
Our translation engine — Fable 5. 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
M217~m , 1(N01) M387~a |M036+1(N30D)| , 1(N14) [...] M361~c1 M361~b1 M080~ca |M036+1(N30D)| , 1(N14)# [...] M341# M038~a# M296# , 1(N39B) M038~a# [...] , [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 17, 259. 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 (P008457) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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.