The Proto-Elamite script is an early Bronze Age writing system briefly in use before the introduction of Elamite cuneiform.

[17] The Proto-Elamite writing system was used over a very large geographical area, stretching at least from Susa in the west to Tepe Yahya in the east.

[34][35] The first step in deciphering an unknown writing system is getting the known corpus fully published and developing a proposed sign list.

[37][38][39][40] In 2012, Dr Jacob Dahl of the University of Oxford announced a project to make high-quality images of Proto-Elamite clay tablets and publish them online.

His hope is that crowdsourcing by academics and amateurs working together would be able to understand the script, despite the presence of mistakes and the lack of phonetic clues.

[44] In 2020, François Desset [fr], of the Laboratoire Archéorient in Lyon, France, announced a proposed decipherment and translation of proto-Elamite texts.

[45][46] In 2022 Desset published a paper on Linear Elamite which also proposed sign forms for Proto-Elamite (recasting it as "Early Proto-Iranian").

[50] An example from a small tablet (Sb 06355) from Susa where most signs are known:[51] While the Elamite language has been suggested as a candidate underlying the Proto-Elamite inscriptions, there is no positive evidence of this.