Position in chronology
MDP 26S, 4786
About this tablet
A proto-cuneiform administrative accounting tablet from Susa (southwestern Iran), dating to the Uruk period, roughly 3200–3000 BCE — among the earliest writing in human history. It records quantities of commodities or animals distributed or allocated under various category signs, each line pairing an ideographic sign with a numerical notation. Tablets like this are the very beginning of writing: not literature or law, but the bookkeeping of a complex urban economy, invented to track goods moving through a temple or palace storehouse. Because proto-cuneiform signs from Susa have not been fully deciphered, the precise commodity names remain uncertain, but the accounting structure is unmistakable.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Translation · reference
Low confidenceHeading sign [M157~a] [Category markers M038~i?, M141, M086] | [combined sign M036+1(N24)] | : 4 units [Combined sign M036+1(N30C)] : 1 large unit, 2 small units [M140~a] [M288] : 1 (N39B-measure) [M262~b] : 1 unit [M262~ba] : 1 unit [...] : 1 unit [M248~a] [M002] : 1 (N30D-measure) [Combined sign M343~h+1(N30C)] [M037] [M288] : 1 unit, 1 (N39B-measure) [M288] : 2 units, 4 (N39B-measures), 1 (N24-measure), 2 (N30C-measures), 1 (N30D-measure)
Source: engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-12/v4-interpretation)
Translation · AI engine
read from photoHeading sign [M157~a] [Category markers M038~i?, M141, M086] | [combined sign M036+1(N24)] | : 4 units [Combined sign M036+1(N30C)] : 1 large unit, 2 small units [M140~a] [M288] : 1 (N39B-measure) [M262~b] : 1 unit [M262~ba] : 1 unit [...] : 1 unit [M248~a] [M002] : 1 (N30D-measure) [Combined sign M343~h+1(N30C)] [M037] [M288] : 1 unit, 1 (N39B-measure) [M288] : 2 units, 4 (N39B-measures), 1 (N24-measure), 2 (N30C-measures), 1 (N30D-measure)
12 uncertain terms ↓
- M157~a — Unidentified heading or category sign; function not yet established for the Susa corpus.
- M038~i? — Reading marked uncertain in the transliteration ('?'); sign identity provisional.
- M288 — Appears multiple times; likely a qualifier or commodity determinative, but semantic value not established.
- M262~b / M262~ba — Two variant forms of the same sign; commodity reference unknown.
- N39B — Elongated impressed numeral; commodity-specific metrological value debated — could relate to capacity or area measure.
- N14 — Higher-order numeral; conventionally ~10× N01 in sexagesimal system, but varies by commodity. Value here uncertain.
- N24 — Medium-order numeral sign; hierarchical value depends on which metrological system is in use for this commodity.
- N30C / N30D — Sub-variants of the N30 numeral series; their exact values and commodity associations are not fully resolved.
- M140~a M288 — Combination of two signs; possibly a compound category designation, but not deciphered.
- M248~a M002 — Sign combination; M002 sometimes appears as a determinative or qualifier in proto-cuneiform, but meaning here is uncertain.
- |M343~h+1(N30C)| M037 M288 — Complex compound sign with embedded numeral; the ligature structure suggests a specific institutional or commodity category, but remains unidentified.
- BA (implied in disbursement structure) — Later Sumerian 'ba' (to distribute/allot) is sometimes read into proto-cuneiform contexts structurally, but this is an extrapolation; not a secure decipherment for the Uruk period.
Reasoning ↓
The photograph shows a small, roughly square clay tablet — the museum number 'Sb 15292' is clearly legible on the left edge, and the accession number '4786' appears in red on the top edge, confirming the object identity. The obverse (upper image) bears dense proto-cuneiform impressions across approximately ten lines; the wedge impressions and circular/oval numeral punches are clearly visible. Individual signs are difficult to match one-to-one with the transliteration signs at this resolution and given surface cracking and partial erosion, but the overall layout — category signs in the left column, numerals to the right — is consistent with the transliteration structure provided. The reverse (lower image) shows only a faint seal impression and what appear to be a few edge numerals on the left margin; the face is otherwise blank, consistent with a single-face accounting tablet. A diagonal crack runs across both faces. Because proto-cuneiform from Susa (the 'Proto-Elamite adjacent' or Susa-Uruk corpus) is not fully deciphered, and because the sign identifications rely on the scholar-provided transliteration which itself uses uncertain sign readings (marked with '?' and '#'), confidence is assessed as low. No standard English translation of these ideographic signs is possible beyond their structural/numerical roles.
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · prompt 2026-05-12/v4-interpretation · May 15, 2026 · 2428 in / 1240 out tokens
Why it matters
Transliteration
M157~a , M038~i? M141 M086 |M036+1(N24)| , 4(N01) |M036+1(N30C)| , 1(N14) 2(N01) M140~a M288 , 1(N39B) M262~b , 1(N01) M262~ba , 1(N01)# [...] , 1(N01) M248~a M002 , 1(N30D) |M343~h+1(N30C)| M037 M288 , 1(N01) 1(N39B)# M288 , 2(N01) 4(N39B) 1(N24) 2(N30C) 1(N30D)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)) — MDP 26S, 4786. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P009223) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-12/v4-interpretation).
Related tablets
Related sources
One of the earliest specimens of human writing. Not literature, not law — accounting. The need to keep track of grain in a temple bureaucracy is what pushed marks-on-clay into a system that could one day carry epics.
Marks the boundary between proto-writing and writing. We can see signs being used systematically — but not yet phonetically. The leap to recording speech itself comes a few centuries later.
The earliest historical document in human history. Before this, we have lists, accounts, and dedications. Here, for the first time, a ruler tells us what happened — with names, places, and consequences.