year 10, Issue 35 (6-2026)
Parseh J. Archaeol. Stud. 2026, 10(35): 55-69 |
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Yousefi Zoshk R. (2026). Beyond Accounting; Proto Elamite Tablet (MDP 17, 043) from Susa and the Layered Semantics of Registered Individuals. Parseh J. Archaeol. Stud.. 10(35), 55-69. doi:10.61882/PJAS.1545.148.7
URL: http://journal.richt.ir/mbp/article-1-1545-en.html
URL: http://journal.richt.ir/mbp/article-1-1545-en.html
Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Literature and Human Science, Varamin-Pishva Branch, Islamic Azad University, Varamin, Iran. , Rouholah.Yousefi@auvaramin.ac.ir
Abstract: (57 Views)
This article examines an exceptional Proto-Elamite tablet from Susa (MDP 17, 043) that departs from standard economic accounting texts by listing seventeen named individuals rather than commodities or labor quotas. A central problem addressed here is the apparent inconsistency between gender-marked signs within nominal chains and the uniform or contrasting classifications that conclude those chains, as well as the summary count on the reverse of the tablet. Through a close structural and contextual analysis of the tablet, this study argues that the text operates with a two-level semantic system. Signs such as (M388) and (M124) occurring within nominal chains function at a descriptive level, indicating roles or statuses that are not reducible to biological gender. By contrast, the final combinations |M217+M388| and |M217+M124| assign individuals to institutional categories that determine their treatment as countable administrative units. The reverse of the tablet therefore records not gender or functional roles, but the total number of registered individuals classified according to their final institutional status. This layered semantic structure reveals a sophisticated administrative logic in Proto-Elamite record-keeping and highlights the social and institutional dimensions of individual registration beyond purely economic accounting.
Keywords: Proto-Elamite, Administrative Classification, Social Identity, Institutional Semantics, Early Writing Systems, Susa, Individual Registration.
Type of Study: Research |
Subject:
Special Archeology
Received: 2026/01/7 | Accepted: 2026/03/16 | Published: 2026/06/21
Received: 2026/01/7 | Accepted: 2026/03/16 | Published: 2026/06/21
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