Proto-cuneiform seeded: corpus, readings and open data

Read the Linear A records as the house-style reference and checked the existing Proto-Elamite mystery (MYS0D1P8WBG0FC8) so that the two entries divide the ground: proto-cuneiform here, its Iranian adaptation there. Reused the existing sources cdli-data, cdli-terms, damerow1989tepe, born2019sign and whittaker2005sumerian.

Researched the corpus from the primary editions and open databases: Englund 1998 for the synthesis [@englund1998texts], ZATU and ATU 3 for the sign list and lexical lists [@green1987zatu] [@englund1993lexical], Archaic Bookkeeping for the numerical systems [@nissen1993bookkeeping], MSVO 1 and 4 for Jemdet Nasr and Kish [@englund1991jemdet] [@englund1996msvo4], and CDLI counts from Born and Kelley (6,726 artifacts, 5,274 with readable signs, May 2020) [@born2021tribute].

Traced the language debate through Englund's two agnostic statements [@englund1998texts] [@englund2009smell], Whittaker's review of the rebus evidence [@whittaker2005sumerian], the Sumerian side in Steinkeller, Wilcke, Monaco and Woods [@steinkeller1995review] [@wilcke2005lua] [@monaco2014protocuneiform] [@woods2010earliest], Damerow's proto-writing framing [@damerow2006origins], Glassner's divination theory [@glassner2003invention] and Dahl's 2025 survey [@dahl2025early].

Covered the related readable material: the lexical lists and their Sumerian descendants [@civil2013adgi] [@veldhuis2006tribute] [@dcclt-archaic], the Blau monuments [@gelb1991kudurrus] [@krebernik2019blau], and the Archaic Ur phonetic spellings [@dahl2025early]; the token theory and its critics [@schmandt1992before] [@zimansky1993review].

Recorded the computational work: the sign-count tool and Tribute analysis [@born2021tribute] [@born2020signcounts], image-based inventory learning [@born2023inventories], Sproat's simulation [@sproat2017computational], the Nino-cunei Text-Fabric corpus [@roorda2018uruk] and the Unicode repertoires [@pandey2023protocuneiform] [@hawkins2019protocuneiform].

Published the mystery with five sections, 17 literature rows, a 14-row timeline, facts and a region map; a CC0 Metropolitan Museum photograph as the lead image; places, figures, events, artifacts, copies and datasets; five key questions with answers and evidence; two new concepts (Proto-writing, Rebus principle); and next steps on the central question.

Not done: no data file was uploaded, because the one small open file found (the Born sign-frequency JSON) carries only an "Other (Open)" licence on Zenodo; the Oxford CDLI wiki with Englund's sign list and the Oracc DCCLT introduction refused automated access; Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata lookups were rate-limited, so Wikidata IDs are given only where confirmed; and the web-search budget ran out before Krispijn's and Krebernik's 1998 Fara chapter could be added as sources.