--- title: Early Elamite Clay Tablet with Numerical Signs from Southern Iran author: National Museum of Iran source: https://www.worldhistory.org/image/18708/early-elamite-clay-tablet-with-numerical-signs-fro/ format: machine-readable-alternate updated: 2024-03-18 --- # Early Elamite Clay Tablet with Numerical Signs from Southern Iran _Authored by National Museum of Iran_ ## Image File [![Early Elamite Clay Tablet with Numerical Signs from Southern Iran](https://www.worldhistory.org/uploads/images/18708.jpg)](https://www.worldhistory.org/uploads/images/18708.jpg) ## Image Caption Early [Elamite](https://www.worldhistory.org/elam/) clay tablet with numerical signs found in Tappeh Yahya, Kerman, dating to c. 3100 to 2900 BCE (Yahya Period IVc). National Museum of Iran, Tehran, inv. no. 4065. Photo by Nima Fakoorzadeh (Baloot Noghrei) Tappeh Yahya in southeastern Iran is a circular mound (= Tappeh in Persian) of c. 187 m in diameter and 20 meters high. With more than four millennia of archaeological remains, Tappeh Yahya marks the easternmost corner of "the Proto-Elamite horizon", hundreds of miles away from the Iranian portal of Mesopotamian influence in [Susa](https://www.worldhistory.org/susa/). It was through this portal that the [cuneiform](https://www.worldhistory.org/cuneiform/) [writing](https://www.worldhistory.org/writing/) system, developed by the [Sumerians](https://www.worldhistory.org/Sumerians/) c. 3500 BCE, travelled on to the early Elamites c. 3000 BCE, although in its simpler, [Akkadian](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/akkadian/) form. The proto-Elamite corpus of clay tablets contains over 1,600 pieces, with c. 10,000 lines of text. Many of these tablets include records of business transactions, taxes, tributes, and offerings. Economic inscriptions such as TY.11 here were compiled in a formulaic pattern with a title followed by a list of goods and the people involved in their trading. Numbers were written in the proto-Elamite decimal system using horizontal, bulky “wedges” (*cuneus* in Latin) and dots, persons and objects were represented with cuneiform ideograms. The text has two titles, a rarity perhaps suggestive of an administrative organisation supervising the transfer of the listed goods, here different numbers of rams, from the designated people to the superior holder of the second title. As a result, Y.11 could be part of an administrative system for collecting taxes and/or gifts in the early Elamite civic community, living thousands of years ago in Tappeh Yahya, southern Iran. #### Editorial Review This human-authored image has been reviewed by our editorial team before publication to ensure accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards in accordance with our [editorial policy](https://www.worldhistory.org/static/editorial-policy/). ## Bibliography - Benjamin Mutin, C C Lamberg-Karlovsky. *The Proto-Elamite Settlement and its Neighbors: Tepe Yahya Period IVC.* Oxbow Books, 2013 - Clifford Charles Lamberg-Karlovsky. "Proto-Elamite Account Tablets from Tepe Yahya, Iran." *Kadmos*, vol 10, 1971, pp. 97-99. - [Damerow, Peter & Englund, Robert K. & Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C. *The Proto-Elamite Texts from Tepe Yahya .* Peabody Museum Press, 1989.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/0873655427/) - Sahar Yazdani and Rouhollah.Yousefi Zoshk. "Tribute or Taxation; New Evidence of the Structure of Iran’s Political Economy in the Proto-Elamite Period Based on a Proto-Elamite Tablet from Tepe Yahya: TY.11, Kept in Iran National Museum." *Iran National Museum*, 2020. ## External Links - [National Museum of Iran – Official Site For National Museum Of Iran](https://irannationalmuseum.ir/en/) ## Cite This Work ### APA Iran, N. M. o. (2024, March 18). Early Elamite Clay Tablet with Numerical Signs from Southern Iran. *World History Encyclopedia*. ### Chicago Iran, National Museum of. "Early Elamite Clay Tablet with Numerical Signs from Southern Iran." *World History Encyclopedia*, March 18, 2024. . ### MLA Iran, National Museum of. "Early Elamite Clay Tablet with Numerical Signs from Southern Iran." *World History Encyclopedia*, 18 Mar 2024, . ## License & Copyright Original image by **National Museum of Iran**. Submitted by [Nathalie Choubineh](https://www.worldhistory.org/user/nathalie.choubineh/ "User Page: Nathalie Choubineh"), published on 18 March 2024. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: [Copyright](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright). You cannot use, copy, distribute, or modify this item without explicit permission from the author. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.