A Functionalist Decipherment of the Proto-Elamite Script: Category-Specific Metrology, Obverse-Reverse Ledger Database Syntax, and Zero-Sum Casualty Accounting

Previous academic attempts to decipher the Proto-Elamite script (Susa, Iran, c. 3100–2900 BCE) have encountered persistent methodological obstacles due to the historical assumption that its 1,000+ ideographic signs transcribed a spoken Elamite dialect. Applying the IMRaD framework (Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion) alongside the Wikaira Decipherment Framework, this study establishes that Proto-Elamite operated as a non-linguistic, high-volume administrative database and live inventory ledger. Analyzing administrative clay tablets from the Louvre and National Museum of Iran (MDP 26 collection), this paper demonstrates four core empirical findings: (1) Category-specific metrological separation, wherein the Decimal System (D) is reserved exclusively for animate labor forces and livestock, the Sexagesimal System (S) for manufactured goods, and Capacity Systems (C, C#, C") and Bisexagesimal Systems (B, B#) for grain and rations; (2) Rigid obverse-to-reverse database syntax, where obverse sub-entries (Department Header -> Commodity/Labor Logogram -> Numerical Tally) map mathematically to reverse grand totals; (3) Precise labor-ration allocation scales, evidenced by tablet MDP 26, 160 recording 1,108 workers receiving 2,355.33 N01 units of grain rations (average 2.126 N01/worker); and (4) Real-time zero-sum casualty and loss adjustments, executed via perimeter tally over-striking and reverse balance reconciliation.