Element contents
Proto-Elamite
Writing and Society in Early Iran
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 July 2026
Summary
Proto-Elamite is one of the world's earliest scripts and it remains only very partly deciphered. Excavations have uncovered c. 1,700 clay tablets from Iran, dating c. 3300–2900 BCE. The tablets use a complex system involving hundreds of symbols to count commodities, people, and institutions. Despite holding a privileged place in the history of writing, the study of proto-Elamite falls outside modern disciplinary boundaries and has received very limited scholarly attention since its discovery over a century ago. Nonetheless, a handful of scholars have shown that there is much we can learn about proto-Elamite and the people who used it, especially by taking interdisciplinary approaches. The ongoing decipherment project combines mathematics, a range of comparative studies, and a sustained effort to digitize the corpus and apply new tools from computer science.
Keywords
Information
- Type
- Element
- Information
- Online ISBN: 9781009614559Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication: 06 August 2026
References
Adams, R. McC. (1981). Heartland of Cities: Bookkeeping without Writing: Early Administrative Technologies in Context. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Abdi, K. (2003). From ‘écriture’ to civilization: Changing paradigms of proto-elamite archaeology. In Miller, N. and Abdi, K., eds., Yeki Bud, Yeki Nabud: Essays on the Archaeology of Iran in Honor of William M. Sumner. Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, pp. 140–151.Google Scholar
Abdi, K. (2008). On the history of Iranian archaeology. Review of L’archéologie française en Perse et les antiquités nationales (1884–1914) by N. Nasiri-Moghaddam. Iranian Studies 41(5), pp. 755–779.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Afshari, H. and Yousefi Zoshk, R. (2022). An investigation on connection of ideograms related to the chain of phonetic signs in the Proto-Elamite writing system. Journal of Archaeological Studies 14(1/29), pp. 1–22.Google Scholar
Akkermans, P. and Duistermaat, K. (2004). More seals and sealings from Neolithic Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria. Levant 36, pp. 1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alden, J. (1982). Trade and politics in Proto-Elamite Iran. Current Anthropology 23(6), pp. 613–640.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alden, J. (2013). The Kur River Basin in the proto-Elamite era: Settlement patterns, and the appearance of transhumant pastoral nomadism. In Petrie, C. A., ed., Ancient Iran and Its Neighbours. Oxford: Oxbow, pp. 207–232.Google Scholar
Alden, J. R. and Minc, L. (2016). Itinerant potters and the transmission of ceramic technologies and styles during the Proto-Elamite period in Iran. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 7, pp. 863–876.Google Scholar
Alden, J. R., Minc, L. and Alizadeh, A. (2014). INAA analysis of ceramics from Tall-e Geser and Abu Fanduweh: Compositional signatures and evidence for ceramic exchange. Appendix A. In Alizadeh, A., ed., Ancient Settlement Systems and Cultures in the Ram Hormuz Plain, Southwestern Iran. Chicago: Oriental Institute, pp. 257–272.Google Scholar
Algaze, G. (1989). The Uruk expansion: Cross-cultural exchanges in early Mesopotamian civilization. Current Anthropology 30(5), pp. 571–608.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Algaze, G. (2005). The Uruk World System: The Dynamics of Expansion of Early Mesopotamian Civilization. Chicago: University of Chicago.Google Scholar
Alizadeh, A. (2008). Chogha Mish II. The Development of a Prehistoric Regional Center in Lowland Susiana, Southwestern Iran. Final Report on the Last Six Seasons of Excavations, 1972–1978. Chicago: Oriental Institute (OIP 130).Google Scholar
Alizadeh, A. (2010). The rise of the highland Elamite state in southwestern Iran: “Enclosed” or enclosing nomadism? Current Anthropology 51(3), pp. 353–383.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alizadeh, A. (2014). Ancient Settlement Systems and Cultures in the Ram Hormuz Plain, Southwestern Iran: Excavations at Tall-e Geser and Regional Survey of the Ram Hormuz Area. Chicago: Oriental Institute (OIP 140).Google Scholar
Alizadeh, A. (2021). Susiana in the 4th millennium BC: Who was in charge? In van Ess, M., ed., Uruk–Altorientalische Metropole und Kulturzentrum. Berlin: Harrassowitz (CDOG 8), pp. 1–26.Google Scholar
Alizadeh, A., Aghili, S., and Sarlak, S. (2015). Highland-Lowland interaction in the late 4th and early 3rd millennium BCE: The evidence from Qolī Darvīš, Iranian Central Plateau. Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Iran und Turan 45, pp. 149–168.Google Scholar
Álvarez-Mon, J. (2018). “Les faits sur le terrain”: The Susa I cemetery, the “Massif Funéraire”, and second-degree burials. Iranica Antiqua 53, pp. 77–104.Google Scholar
Álvarez-Mon, J. (2020). The art of Elam, ca: 4200–525 BC. Abingdon: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amiet, P. (1980). La glyptique mésopotamienne archaïque: Deuxième edition. Paris: Éditions du Centre national de la recherche scientifique.Google Scholar
Amiet, P. (1972). Glyptique susienne des origines à l’époque des Perses achéménides: cachets, sceaux-cylindres et empreintes antiques découverts à Suse de 1913 à 1967. Paris: Paul Geuthner (MDP 43).Google Scholar
Amiet, P. (1979). Archaeological discontinuity and ethnic duality in Elam. Antiquity 53(209), pp. 195–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amiet, P, and Tosi, M. (1978). Phase 10 at Shahr-i Sokhta: excavations in Square XDV and the late 4th millennium B.C. assemblage of Sistan. East and West 28(1), pp. 9–31.Google Scholar
Baines, J. (2010). Aesthetic culture and the emergence of writing during Naqada III. Archéo-Nil, 20, pp. 134–159.Google Scholar
Basello, G. P. (2004). Elam between Assyriology and Iranian Studies. In Panaino, A. and Piras, A., eds., Schools of Oriental Studies and the Development of Modern Historiography. Milan: Università di Bologna, pp. 1–40.Google Scholar
Beale, T. W. and Carter, S. M. (1983). On the track of the Yahya large kuš: Evidence for architectural planning in the Period IVC complex at Tepe Yahya. Paléorient 9(1), pp. 81–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benati, G. (2018). The construction of large-scale networks in Late Chalcolithic Mesopotamia: Emergent Political Institutions and Their Strategies. In Domenici, D. and Marchetti, N., eds., Urbanized Landscapes in Early Syro-Mesopotamia and Prehispanic Mesoamerica. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, pp. 103–144.Google Scholar
Blackman, M. J. (1982). The manufacture and use of burned lime plaster at Proto-Elamite Anshan (Iran). in Wertime, T. A. and Wertime, S. F., eds., Early Pyrotechnology: The Evolution of the First Fire-Using Industries. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 107–116.Google Scholar
Blackman, M. J. (1999). Chemical characterization of local Anatolian and Uruk style sealing clays from Hacinebi. Paléorient 25(1), pp. 51–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boehmer, R. M. (1999). Uruk: Früheste Siegelabrollungen. Mainz am Rhein: Philip von Zabern (Ausgrabungen in Uruk-Warka 24).Google Scholar
Born, L. (2023). Applications of Natural Language Processing to Archaeological Decipherment: A Survey of Proto-Elamite. PhD Dissertation, Simon Fraser University.Google Scholar
Born, L., Kelley, K., Kambhatla, N., Chen, C., and Sarkar, A. (2019). Sign clustering and topic extraction in Proto-Elamite. Proceedings of the 3rd Joint SIGHUM Workshop on Computational Linguistics for Cultural Heritage, Social Sciences, Humanities and Literature, pp. 122–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Born, L., Monroe, M. W., Kelley, K., and Sarkar, A. (2021). Compositionality of complex graphemes in the undeciphered Proto-Elamite script using image and text embedding models. Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL-IJCNLP, W19-2516, pp. 4136–4146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Born, L., Monroe, M. W., Kelley, K., and Sarkar, A. (2022). Sequence models for document structure identification in an undeciphered script. Proceedings of the 2022 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing, 2022.emnlp-main.620, pp. 9111–9121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Born, L., Monroe, M. W., Kelley, K., and Sarkar, A. (2023). Disambiguating numeral sequences to decipher ancient accounting corpora. Proceedings of the Workshop on Computation and Written Language, July 14, 2023, pp. 71–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brice, W. C. (1962). Studies in the structure of some ancient scripts: 1. The writing system of the Proto-Elamite account tablets of Susa. Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 14, pp. 15–39.Google Scholar
Butterlin, P. (2003). Les temps proto-urbains de Mésopotamie: Contacts et acculturation à l’époque d’Uruk au Moyen-Orient. Paris: CNRS Éditions.Google Scholar
Chazan, M. and Lehner, M. (1990). An ancient analogy: Pot baked bread in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Paléorient 16, pp. 21–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collins, P. (2000). The Uruk Phenomenon: The Role of Social Ideology in the Expansion of the Uruk Culture during the Fourth Millennium BC. Oxford: Archaeopress.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crouzet, G., and Miller, E., eds. (2025). Finding Antiquity, Making the Modern Middle East: Archaeology, Empires, Nations. London: Bloomsbury.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cuny, J. and Paladre, C. (2023). Les fouilles de Suse (Iran) d’après les archives photographiques du département des Antiquités orientales du musée du Louvre. Les nouvelles de l’archéologie 170, pp. 26–32.Google Scholar
Dabbagh, M. (2019). The contribution of women to trade and production in the elamite society. In Meyer, J.-W. et al., eds., The Iranian Plateau during the Bronze Age: Development of Urbanisation, Production and Trade. Lyon: MOM Edition, pp. 235–246.Google Scholar
Dahl, J. L. (2005a). Animal husbandry in Susa during the Proto-Elamite period. Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici 47, pp. 81–134.Google Scholar
Dahl, J. L. (2005b). Complex graphemes in Proto-Elamite. Cuneiform Digital Library Journal, 2005(3).Google Scholar
Dahl, J. L. (2009). Early writing in Iran, a reappraisal. Iran 47(1), pp. 23–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dahl, J. L. (2012b). New and old joins in the Louvre proto-Elamite tablet collection. Cuneiform Digital Library Notes 6.Google Scholar
Dahl, J. L. (2013). Early writing in Iran. In Potts, D. T., ed., The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 233–262.Google Scholar
Dahl, J. L. (2014). The proto-Elamite seal MDP 16 no 198. Cuneiform Digital Library Notes.Google Scholar
Dahl, J. L. (2019). Tablettes et fragments proto-élamites. Paris: Louvre éditions Textes cunéiformes.Google Scholar
Dahl, J. L. (2023). Proto-Elamite and Linear Elamite, a misunderstood relationship? Akkadica 144(2), pp. 107–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dahl, J. L. (2025). The early development of the cuneiform writing system, and its regional adaptation. In The Dawn of Writing Systems: Cuneiform and Egyptian Hieroglyphs Through the Behistun Inscription and the Rosetta Stone. Incheon, Korea: National Museum of World Writing.Google Scholar
Dahl, J. L. (Forthcoming). The Fields of Proto-Elamite Susa. In Maiocchi, M. and Notizia, P., eds., Ancient Economies in their Social, Cultural and Political Settings. CNR edizioni.Google Scholar
Dahl, J. L., Hawkins, L. F., and Kelley, K. (2018). Labor administration in Proto-Elamite Iran. In Garcia-Ventura, A., ed., What’s in a Name? Terminology Related to the Work Force and Job Categories in the Ancient Near East. Münster: Ugarit, pp. 15–44.Google Scholar
Dahl, J. L., Hessari, M. and Yousefi Zoshk, R. (2012). The Proto-Elamite tablets from tape Sofalin. Iranian Journal of Archaeological Studies 2(1), pp. 57–73.Google Scholar
Dahl, J. L., Petrie, C. A. and Potts, D. T. (2013). Chronological parameters of the earliest writing system in Iran. In Petrie, C. A., ed., Ancient Iran and Its Neighbours, pp. 353–378.Google Scholar
Damerow, P. (2006). The origins of writing as a problem of historical epistemology. Cuneiform Digital Library Journal 2006(1).Google Scholar
Damerow, P. and Englund, R. K. (1987). Die Zahlzeichensysteme der Archaischen Texte aus Uruk. In Nissen, H., ed., Zeichenliste der Archaischen Texte Aus Uruk (ATU 2). Berlin: Gebr. Mann, pp. 117–165.Google Scholar
Damerow, P. and Englund, R. K. (1989). The Proto-Elamite texts from Tepe Yahya. Cambridge, MA: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University.Google Scholar
Daneshmand, P. (2024). Against cuneiform: The dawn of writing in Iran. Iranica Antiqua 59, pp. 1–24.Google Scholar
Delougaz, P., and Kantor, H. J. (1996). Chogha Mish, Volume 1: The First Five Seasons of Excavations, 1961–1971 (OIP 101). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Desset, F. (2012). Premières écritures iraniennes: Les systèmes proto-élamite et élamite linéaire. Napoli: Università degli studi di Napoli ‘L’Orientale’ (Series Minor, LXXVI).Google Scholar
Desset, F. (2014). An architectural pattern in late fourth-millennium BC western Iran: A new link between Susa, Tal-i Malyan, and Godin Tepe. Iran 52, pp. 1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Desset, F., Tabibzadeh, K., Kervran, M., Basello, G. P., and Marchesi, G. (2022). The Decipherment of Linear Elamite Writing. Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 112(1), pp. 11–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dyson, R. H. (1968). Early works on the Acropolis at Susa. Expedition 10(4), pp. 21–34.Google Scholar
Englund, R. K. (1988). Administrative timekeeping in ancient Mesopotamia. Journal of Economic and Social History of the Orient 31(2), pp. 121–185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Englund, R. K. (1998). Texts from the late Uruk period. In Attinger, P. and Wäfler, M., eds., Mesopotamien: Späturuk-Zeit und frühdynastische Zeit (Orbis biblicus et Orientalis, 160/1). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, pp. 15–233.Google Scholar
Englund, R. K. (2004). The state of decipherment of Proto-Elamite. In Houston, S., ed., The First Writing: Script Invention as History and Process. Cambridge: Cambridge University, pp. 100–149.Google Scholar
Englund, R. K. (2006). An examination of the “textual” witnesses to late Uruk world systems. In Yushu, G. and Yiyi, C., eds., A Collection of Papers on Ancient Civilizations of Western Asia, Asia Minor and North Africa. Beijing: Oriental Studies Special Issue, pp. 1–38.Google Scholar
Englund, R. K. (2009). The smell of the cage. Cuneiform Digitial Library Journal 4, pp. 1–27.Google Scholar
Etemadifar, D. and Afzadi, M. (2022). Gender archaeology: An analytical review of gender symbols in Proto-Elamite anthropomorphic nominal chain of signs. Journal of Archaeology and Archaeometry 1(2), pp. 13–29.Google Scholar
Ferrara, S. and Tamburini, F. (2022). Advanced techniques for the decipherment of ancient scripts. Lingue e linguaggio 21, pp. 239–259.Google Scholar
Fissore, G. G. (1994). Conceptual development and organization techniques in the documents and archives of the earliest near eastern civilizations. In Ferioli, P. et al., eds., Archives Before Writing. Torino: Centro Internazionale di Richerche Archeologiche Antropologiche e Storiche, pp. 339–361.Google Scholar
Frangipane, M. et al. (2007). Arslantepe Cretulae: An Early Centralised Administrative System Before Writing. Roma: Università di Roma “La Sapienza”.Google Scholar
Friberg, J. (1978). The Third Millennium Roots of Babylonian Mathematics: I, A Method for the Decipherment, through Mathematical and Metrological Analysis, of proto-Sumerian and Proto-Elamite Semi-Pictographic Inscriptions. Göteborg: Chalmers University of Technology: University of Göteborg.Google Scholar
Friberg, J. (1997). Round and almost round numbers in proto-literate metro-mathematical field texts. Archiv für Orientforschung 44/45, pp. 1–58.Google Scholar
Gelb, I. J. (1965). The ancient Mesopotamian ration system. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 24(3), pp. 230–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Girshman, R. (1938). Fouilles de Sialk près de Kashan 1933, 1934, 1937 (Vol. 1). Paris: Paul Geuthner.Google Scholar
Gorris, E. (2023). “Don’t let the boats pass!” Neo-Elamite grain procurement in times of famine and drought. Iranian Studies 56(3), pp. 439–456.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Graef, K. (2018). In Susa’s fields. On the topography of fields in Old Babylonian administrative documents from Susa. In Tavernier, J., Gorris, E., Abraham, K., and Boschloos, V., eds, Topography and Toponymy in the Ancient Near East. Perspectives and Prospects. Louvain-la-neuve: Peeters.Google Scholar
Graeber, D. and Wengrow, D. (2021). The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Green, M. and Nissen, H. J. (1987). Zeichenliste der archaischen Texte aus Uruk. Berlin: Gebr. Mann (ATU 2).Google Scholar
Hawkins, L. F. (2015). A new edition of Proto-Elamite text MDP 17, 112. Cuneiform Digital Library Journal 2015(1).Google Scholar
Helwing, B. (2013). Early metallurgy in Iran–an innovative region as seen from the inside. In Burmeister, S. et al. eds., Metal Matters: Innovative Technologies and Social Change in Prehistory and Antiquity. Rahden: Marie Leidorf.Google Scholar
Helwing, B. (2019). Proto-Elamite sites in highland Iran: The state of research in Tappeh Sialk and Arisman. In Nokandeh, J., Curtis, J., and Pic, M., eds., Tappeh Sialk: The Glory of Ancient Kashan. London: Iran Heritage Foundation, pp. 21–26.Google Scholar
Helwing, B. (2021). Patterns of early metallurgy on the Iranian Plateau, from the beginnings to the end of the Bronze Age. In Marro, C. and Stöllner, T., eds., On Salt, Copper and Gold. MOM Éditions, Online edition.Google Scholar
Hessari, M. and Saeedi, S. (2017). New perspectives from the Proto-Elamite horizon in the center of the Iranian Plateau. The International Journal of Humanities 24(4), pp. 33–42.Google Scholar
Hessari, M. and Yousefi Zoshk, R. (2022). A clay ball and five tablets from Tepe Sofalin, Rey Plain, Iran. Journal of Archaeology and Archaeometry 1(1), pp. 13–25.Google Scholar
Hessari, M. and Yousefi Zoshk, R. (2023). A “New” Proto-Elamite tablet with unattested numerical system from Tappeh Sofalin. Pashohesh-ha-ye bastan shenasi Iran 13(37), pp. 149–159.Google Scholar
Hole, F. (1992). The cemetery of Susa: An interpretation. In Harper, P. O., Aruz, J., and Tallon, F., eds., The Royal City of Susa: Ancient Near Eastern Treasures in the Louvre. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 26–31.Google Scholar
Hole, F. (2010). The organization of ceramic production during the Susa I Period. Paléorient 36(1), pp. 23–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hole, F. et al. (1969). Prehistory and Human Ecology of the Deh Luran Plain: An Early Village Sequence from Khuzistan Iran. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hopper, K. and Wilkinson, T. J. (2013). Population and settlement trends in south-west Iran and neighbouring areas. In Petrie, C. A., ed., Ancient Iran and Its Neighbours. Oxford: Oxbow, pp. 56–74.Google Scholar
Islam, B. S. B., Amirkhiz, A. C., and Amini, F. M. (2023). Extremes and cultures: Investigating the decline of the chalcolithic age in the Tehran Plain with the environmental archaeology approach. Iranian Journal of Archaeological Studies 13(1), pp. 77–90.Google Scholar
Kambhatla, N., Born, L., and Sarkar, A. (2023). Decipherment as regression: Solving historical substitution ciphers by learning symbol recurrence relations. Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: EACL 2023, 2023.findings-eacl.160, 2136–2152.Google Scholar
Kelley, K. (2018). Gender, age, and labour organization in the earliest texts from Mesopotamia and Iran (c. 3300–2900 BC). Doctoral Dissertation, University of Oxford.Google Scholar
Kelley, K. (2024). Images hidden in script: The invention of writing in ancient Iran. In Ferrara, S., Cartolano, M., and Ottaviano, L., eds., Talking Images: The Interface between drawing and writing. New York: Routledge, pp. 71–94.Google Scholar
Kelley, K., Born, L., Monroe, M. W., and Sarkar, A. (2022). Image-aware language modeling for Proto-Elamite. Lingue e Linguaggio XXI(2), pp. 261–294.Google Scholar
Kelley, K., Cartolano, M., and Ferrara, S. (2024). Seals and signs: Tracing the origins of writing. Antiquity 99(403), pp. 64–82.Google Scholar
Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C. (1975). Third millennium modes of exchange and modes of production. In Sabloff, J. A. and Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C., eds., Ancient Civilization and Trade. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, pp. 341–368.Google Scholar
Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C. (1978). The Proto-Elamites on the Iranian plateau. Antiquity 52(205), pp. 114–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C. (1986). Third millennium structure and process: From the Euphrates to the Indus and the Oxus to the Indian Ocean. Oriens Antiquus 25, pp. 189–219.Google Scholar
Lamberg-Karlovsky, C.C. (1989). Introduction. In Damerow, P. and Englund, R. K., The Proto-Elamite Texts from Tepe Yahya. Cambridge, MA: Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology, pp. v–xiv.Google Scholar
Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C. (2003). To write or not to write. In Potts, T., Roaf, M., and Stein, D., eds., Culture through Objects: Ancient Near Eastern studies in honour of P.R.S. Moorey. Oxford: Griffith Institute, pp. 59–75.Google Scholar
Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C. (2009). Structure, agency and commerce in the ancient near East. Iranica Antiqua 44, pp. 47–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C. and Kohl, P. (1971). The early Bronze Age of Iran as seen from Tepe Yahya. Expedition 13(Spring–Summer), pp. 14–21.Google Scholar
Le Breton, L. (1957). The early periods at Susa, Mesopotamian relations. Iraq 19(2), pp. 79–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le Brun, A. (1971). Recherches stratigraphiques à l’Acropole de Suse (1969–1971). Cahiers de la Délégation Archéologique Française en Iran 1, pp. 163–216.Google Scholar
Le Brun, A. (2019). Susa at the turn of the 4th and 3rd millennia. In Meyer, J.-W. et al., eds., The Iranian Plateau During the Bronze Age. Lyon: MOM Éditions, pp. 101–108.Google Scholar
Le Brun, A. and Vallat, F. (1978). L’origine de l’écriture à Suse. Cahiers de la Délégation Archéologique Française en Iran 8, pp. 11–59.Google Scholar
Lurie, D. B. (2006). Language, writing, and disciplinarity in the critique of the “ideographic myth”: Some proleptical remarks. Language & Communication 26, pp. 250–269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Majidzadeh, Y. (2001). Les fouilles d’Ozbaki (Iran): Campagnes 1998–2000. Paléorient 27(1), pp. 141–145.Google Scholar
Majidzadeh, Y. (2008). Excavations at konar sandal in the region of Jiroft in the Halil Basin: First preliminary report (2002–2008). Iran 46, pp. 69–103.Google Scholar
Mashkour, M. (2006). Boars and pigs: A view from the Iranian plateau. In Lion, B. and Michél, C., eds, De la domestication au tabou:le cas des suidés dans le Proche-Orient ancient. Paris: de Boccard, pp. 155–167.Google Scholar
Matthews, R. and Fazeli Nashli, H. (2004). Copper and complexity: Iran and Mesopotamia in the fourth millennium B.C. Iran 42, pp. 61–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matthews, R. and Fazeli Nashli, H. (2022). The Archaeology of Iran from the Paleolithic to the Achaemenid Empire. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Matthews, R. and Richardson, A. (2019). Cultic resilience and inter-city engagement at the dawn of urban history: Protohistoric Mesopotamia and the ‘city seals’, 3200–2750 BC. World Archaeology 50(5), pp. 723–747.Google Scholar
Matthews, R., Richardson, A., Fazeli Nashli, H., and de Groene, D. (2025). Information revolutions and information transitions: Counting, sealing, writing in Iran 10,000–300 BC. Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History 12(2), pp. 1–91.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meadow, R. H. (1986). The geographical and palaeoenvironmental setting of Tepe Yahya. In Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C. and Beale, T. W., eds, Excavations at Tepe Yahya, Iran, 1967–1975: The Early Periods. American School of Prehistoric Research Bulletin 38. Cambridge: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, pp. 21–38.Google Scholar
de Mecquenem, R. (1949). Épigraphie proto-élamite. Paris: Presse Universitaires de France. (MDP 31).Google Scholar
de Mecquenem, R. (1956). Notes Protoélamites. Revue d’Assyriologie et d’Archéologie Orientale 50(4), pp. 200–204.Google Scholar
Meriggi, P. (1966). L’Elamico. In Problemi Attuali di Scienza e di Cultura (Quaderno, 76). Roma: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, pp. 559–565.Google Scholar
Meriggi, P. (1969). Altsumerische und proto-elamische Bilderschrift. Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft, Supplement 1 (Deutscher Orientalistentag 17), pp. 156–163.Google Scholar
Meriggi, P. (1971–1974). La scrittura proto-elamica. (3 Volumes). Roma: Accademia nazionale dei Lincei.Google Scholar
Miller, N. (1984). The use of dung as fuel: An ethnographic example and an Archaeological application. Paléorient 10(2), pp. 71–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, N. (1982). Economy and Environment of Malyan, a Third Millenium B.C. Urban Center in Southern Iran. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, University of Michigan. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms.Google Scholar
Miller, N. (1985). Paleoethnobotanical evidence for deforestation in ancient Iran: A case study of urban Malyan. Journal of Ethnobiology 5(1), pp. 1–19.Google Scholar
Moghaddam, A. (2013). The later village (chalcolithic) period in Khuzestan. In Potts, D. T., ed., The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 105–119.Google Scholar
Monroe, M. W., Kelley, K., Born, L., and Sarkar, A. (2025). Recent progress in deciphering Proto-Elamite. Near Eastern Archaeology 88(4), pp. 316–323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morin, O. (2023). The puzzle of ideography. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 46, e233, pp. 1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mutin, B. (2013). The Proto-Elamite Settlement and its Neighbors: Tepe Yahya Period IVC. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Nezfati, N. and Hessari, H. (2017). Tappeh Shoghali: A significant early silver production site in north central Iran. Periodico di Mineralogia 86, pp. 67–73.Google Scholar
Nissen, H. J. (2016). Uruk: Early Administration Practices and the Development of Proto-Cuneiform Writing. Archéo-Nil 26, pp. 33–48.Google Scholar
Nissen, H. J., Damerow, P., and Englund, R. K. (1993). Archaic Bookkeeping: Early Writing and Techniques of Economic Administration in the Ancient Near East. Transl. from German (1990) by Paul Larsen. Chicago: University of Chicago.Google Scholar
Overmann, K. (2021). A new look at old numbers, and what it reveals about numeration. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 80(2), pp. 291–321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paladre, C. (2022). Les sceaux-cylindres proto-élamites: productions d’un phénomène revisité. Doctoral Thesis. Paris.Google Scholar
Paladre, C. (2025). Where are the proto-Elamites? Exclusion of humans from the Proto-Elamite classic glyptic style. In Scott, S. J. and Topçuoğli, O., eds., The Routledge Companion to Seals and Seal Studies in Antiquity: New Approaches to Mediterranean and West Asian Visual Culture. London: Taylor & Francis, pp. 427–451.Google Scholar
Perruchini, E. et al. (2023). Revealing invisible stews: New results of organic residue analyses of beveled rim bowls from the Late Chalcolithic site of Shakhi Kora, Kurdistan region of Iraq. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 48, pp. 1–10.Google Scholar
Petrie, C. A. (2013). Ancient Iran and its neighbours: The state of play/Emerging paradigms and future directions. In Petrie, C. A., ed., Ancient Iran and Its Neighbours: Local Developments and Long-range Interactions in the 4th Millennium BC. Oxford: Oxbow, pp. 10–44 and 461–499.Google Scholar
Petrie, C.A. (2014). Iran and Uruk Mesopotamia: Chronologies and connections in the fourth millennium BC. In McMahon, A. and Crawford, H., eds., Preludes to Urbanism: The Late Chalcolithic of Mesopotamia. Cambridge: McDonald Institute, pp. 137–155.Google Scholar
Pittman, H. (1993). Pictures of an administration. The Late Uruk scribe at work. In Frangipane, M., Hauptmann, H., Liverani, M., Matthiae, P., and Mellink, M., eds, Between the Rivers and Over the Mountains: Archaeologica Anatolica et Mesopotamica Alba Palmeri Dedicata. Rome: Universita di Roma “La Sapienza”, pp. 235–247.Google Scholar
Pittman, H. (1994). The Glazed Steatite Glyptic Style: The Structure and Function of an Image System in the Administration of Protoliterate Mesopotamia. Berlin: D. Reimer.Google Scholar
Pittman, H. (1997). The administrative function of glyptic art in Proto-Elamite Iran: A survey of the evidence. In Gyselen, R., ed., Sceaux d’Orient et leur emploi. Bures-sur-Yvette, Group pour l’Etude de la Civilisation du Moyen-Orient, pp. 133–162.Google Scholar
Pittman, H. (2001). Glyptic art of period IV. In Potts, D. T., ed., Excavations at Tepe Yahya, Iran 1967–1975: The Third Millennium. Cambridge, MA: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, pp. 231––246.Google Scholar
Pittman, H. (2003). Proto-Elamite glyptic art from operation ABC. In Sumner, W. M., Early Urban Life in the Land of Anshan. Excavations at Tal-e Malyan in the Highlands of Iran. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, pp. 107–109.Google Scholar
Pittman, H. (2013). Imagery in administrative context: Susiana and the west in the fourth millennium BC. In Petrie, C. A., ed., Ancient Iran and Its Neighbours. Oxford: Oxbow, pp. 360–406.Google Scholar
Pollock, S. (2012). Politics of food in early Mesopotamian centralized societies. Origini XXXIV, pp. 153–168.Google Scholar
Potts, D. T. (2009). Bevel-rim bowls and bakeries: Evidence and explanations from Iran and the Indo-Iranian Borderlands. Journal of Cuneiform Studies 61, pp. 1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Potts, D. T. (2001). Excavations at Tepe Yahya, Iran 1967–1975: The Third Millennium. Cambridge, MA: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.Google Scholar
Potts, D. T. (2011). Equus asinus in highland Iran: Evidence old and new. In Conrad, N. J. et al., eds., Between Sand and Sea: The Archaeology and Human Ecology of Southwestern Asia: Festschrift in honor of Hans-Peter Uerpmann. Tübingen: Kerns, pp. 167–175.Google Scholar
Potts, D. T. (2014). Nomadism in Iran: From Antiquity to the Modern Era. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Potts, D. T. (2016). The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State, 2nd ed. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Price, M. (2021). Evolution of a Taboo: Pigs and People in the Ancient near East. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Renette, S. and Ghasrian, S. M. (2020). The central and northern Zagros during the Late Chalcolithic: An updated ceramic chronology based on recent fieldwork results in western Iran. Paléorient 46(1–2), pp. 109–132.Google Scholar
Saeedi, S. (2021). Proto-Elamite communities under the magnifying glass. In Abar, A. et al., eds., Pearls, Politics and Pistachios. Berlin: ex oriente, pp. 61–87.Google Scholar
Sardari, A. and Attarpour, S. (2019). From the Proto-Elamite to shimashki: The third millennium BC at Tappeh Senjar, the Susiana Plain. In Meyer, J.-W. et al., eds., The Iranian Plateau during the Bronze Age: Development of urbanisation, production and trade. Lyon: MOM Éditions, pp. 123–146.Google Scholar
Scheil, V. (1900). Textes élamites-sémitiques: Première série. Paris: Ernst Leroux (MDP 2).Google Scholar
Scheil, V. (1923). Textes de comptabilité proto-élamite: Nouvelle série. Paris: Ernst Leroux (MDP 17).Google Scholar
Scheil, V. (1935). Textes de comptabilité proto-élamites: Troisième série. Paris: Ernest Leroux (MDP 26).Google Scholar
Schmandt-Besserat, D. (2018). Prehistoric administrative technologies and the ancient Near Eastern redistribution economy: The case of greater Susiana. In Álvarez-Mon, J., Basello, G. P., and Wicks, Y., The Elamite World. London: Routledge, pp. 363–382.Google Scholar
Sajjadi, S. M., & Moradi, H. (2022). The Preliminary Report on Excavations at Eastern Residential Area of Shahr-i Sokhta: Rooms 27 and 28. Persica Antiqua 2(3), pp. 101–109.Google Scholar
Sproat, R. (2023). Symbols: An Evolutionary History from the Stone Age to the Future. Switzerland: Springer Nature.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stauder, A. (2022). Paths to Early Phoneticism: Egyptian Writing in the Late Fourth Millennium BCE. In Morenz, L., Stauder, A., and Büma, B., eds., Wege zur frühen Schrift: Niltal und Zweistromland. Berlin: EB-Verlag, pp. 217–289.Google Scholar
Stauder, A. (2026). Kingship before Writing: The Graphic Forms in Tomb U-j (Abydos, c. 3300 BCE). (Egyptian Artefacts 2). Leuven: Peeters.Google Scholar
Stein, G. (1999). Rethinking World-Systems: Diasporas, Colonies, and Interaction in Uruk Mesopotamia. Tucson: University of Arizona.Google Scholar
Stein, G. (2020). Leadership strategies and the multi-linear development of social complexity in Ubaid Mesopotamia and Susa A southwestern Iran (5500–4000 BCE). In Restelli, F. B., ed., Pathways through Arslantepe: Essays in Honour of Marcella Frangipane. Roma: Sapienza Università, pp. 176–187.Google Scholar
Steve, M.-J. and Gasche, H. (1971). L’Acropole de Suse: Nouvelles Fouilles. Leiden: Brill (MDP 46).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stolper, M. (1984). Texts from Tall-i Malyan, I: Elamite Administrative Texts (1972–1974). Philadelphia: Babylonian Fund of the University Museum.Google Scholar
Stolper, M. (1985). Proto-Elamite texts from Tall-e Malyan. Kadmos 24, pp. 1–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sumner, W. (1986). Proto-Elamite civilization in Fars. In Finkbeiner, U. and Röllig, W., eds., Ğamdat Naṣr: Period or regional style? Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert, pp. 199–211.Google Scholar
Sumner, W. (2003). Early Urban Life in the Land of Anshan: Excavations at Tal-e Malyan in the Highlands of Iran. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.Google Scholar
Tavernier, J. (2018). The Elamite Language. In Álvarez-Mon, J., Basello, G. P., and Wicks, Y., eds., The Elamite World, pp. 416–449.Google Scholar
Vallat, F. (1986). The most ancient scripts of Iran: The current situation. World Archaeology 17(3), pp. 335–347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vallat, F. (2003). Un fragment de tablette proto-élamite découvert à Ozbaki, au nord-ouest de Téhéran. Akkadica 124, pp. 229–231.Google Scholar
Vidale, M. (2018). Great domino games: From Elam, looking eastwards. In Álvarez-Mon, J., Basello, G. P., and Wicks, Y., The Elamite World. London: Routledge, pp. 275–303.Google Scholar
Vidale, M. and Desset, F. (2013). Mahtoutabad I (Konar Sandal South, Jiroft): preliminary evidence of occupation of a Halil Rud site in the early fourth millennium BC. In Petrie, C. A., ed., Ancient Iran and Its Neighbours, pp. 233–252.Google Scholar
Vidale, M., Fazeli Nashli, H., and Desset, F. (2018). The late prehistory of the northern Iranian Central Plateau (c. 6000–3000 BC): growth and collapse of decentralised networks. In Meller, H. et al., eds., Surplus without the State: Political Forms in Prehistory. Halle: Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte.Google Scholar
Woosley, A. I. (1996). Early agriculture at Chogha Mish. In Delougaz, P. and Kantor, H. J., Chogha Mish, Volume I. Chicago: Oriental Institute, pp. 307–317.Google Scholar
Wright, H. T. (1998). Uruk States in Southwestern Iran. In Feinman, G. M. and Marcus, J., eds., Archaic States. Santa Fe: School of American Research, pp. 173–197.Google Scholar
Wright, H. T. (2001). Cultural action in the Uruk world. In Rothman, M. T., ed., Uruk Mesopotamia & Its Neighbours: Cross-Cultural Interactions in the Era of State Formation. Sante Fe: Schools of American Research, pp. 123–148.Google Scholar
Yeganeh, S. J., Holakooei, P., Nokandeh, J., Piran, S., and Dahl, J. (2025). Complexity of Proto-Elamite administration system: Insights from compositional data from sealings and tablets. Journal of Archaeological Science 61,104973.Google Scholar
Yoffee, N. (2001). The evolution of simplicity: Review of seeing like a state: How certain schemes to improve the Human Condition Have Filed, by James C. Scott. Current Anthropology 42(5), pp. 767–769.Google Scholar
Yousefi Zoshk, R. and Hessari, M. (Forthcoming). Script over sealings: Proto-Elamite bureaucratic innovation at Tepe Sofalin, Iran. Near Eastern Archaeology 89(1), pp. 16–23.Google Scholar
Yousefi Zoshk, R., Baghizadeh, S., and Etemadifar, D. (2019). The gender division of labour during the proto-Elamite period in late 4th millennium Iran. In Koch, J. K. and Kirleis, W., eds., Gender Transformations in Prehistoric and Archaic Societies. Leiden: Sidestone Press, pp. 423–434.Google Scholar
Yousefi Zoshk, R., Afshari Salaki, H., and Etemadifar, D. (2025). Agricultural practices in Proto-Elamite Susa: An analysis of Proto-Elamite tablets at Iran National Museum. Journal of Iran National Museum 3(1), pp. 61–84.Google Scholar
Zadok, R. (2013). Linguistic groups of Iran. In Potts, D. T., ed., The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 407–422.Google Scholar
Zalaghi, A. (2019). An overview of the settlement patterns of Susa III period in the Upper Khuzestan. In Meyer, J. W. et al., eds., The Iranian Plateau during the Bronze Age. Lyon: MOM Éditions, pp. 109–122.Google Scholar
Zeder, M. (1991). Feeding Cities: Specialized Animal Economy in the Ancient Near East. Washington: Smithsonian Institute.Google Scholar
Accessibility standard: WCAG 2.0 A
Why this information is here
This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.Accessibility Information
The HTML of this element
conforms to version 2.0 of the
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
(WCAG), ensuring core accessibility principles are addressed and meets the basic
(A)
level of WCAG compliance, addressing essential accessibility barriers.
Content Navigation
Table of contents navigation
Allows you to navigate directly to chapters, sections, or non‐text items through a linked table of contents, reducing the need for extensive scrolling.
Allows you to navigate directly to chapters, sections, or non‐text items through a linked table of contents, reducing the need for extensive scrolling.
Reading Order & Textual Equivalents
Single logical reading order
You will encounter all content (including footnotes, captions, etc.) in a clear, sequential flow, making it easier to follow with assistive tools like screen readers.
You will encounter all content (including footnotes, captions, etc.) in a clear, sequential flow, making it easier to follow with assistive tools like screen readers.
Short alternative textual descriptions
You get concise descriptions (for images, charts, or media clips), ensuring you do not miss crucial information when visual or audio elements are not accessible.
You get concise descriptions (for images, charts, or media clips), ensuring you do not miss crucial information when visual or audio elements are not accessible.
Full alternative textual descriptions
You get more than just short alt text: you have comprehensive text equivalents, transcripts, captions, or audio descriptions for substantial non‐text content, which is especially helpful for complex visuals or multimedia.
You get more than just short alt text: you have comprehensive text equivalents, transcripts, captions, or audio descriptions for substantial non‐text content, which is especially helpful for complex visuals or multimedia.
Visual Accessibility
Use of high contrast between text and background colour
You benefit from high‐contrast text, which improves legibility if you have low vision or if you are reading in less‐than‐ideal lighting conditions.
You benefit from high‐contrast text, which improves legibility if you have low vision or if you are reading in less‐than‐ideal lighting conditions.
Structural and Technical Features
ARIA roles provided
You gain clarity from ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) roles and attributes, as they help assistive technologies interpret how each part of the content functions.
You gain clarity from ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) roles and attributes, as they help assistive technologies interpret how each part of the content functions.
Resources available
Unlock full potential of this element with additional resources.
Explore resources