Elam endured for roughly two thousand years on the southwestern Iranian plateau, centred on Susa and reshaping itself through several political forms. It was contemporaneous with Sumer but geographically and linguistically distinct; Elamite remains an isolate, unaffiliated with any known language family.

Elamite writing followed its own trajectory. The early sign system known as Proto-Elamite is contemporaneous with Sumerian cuneiform but independent; later, under Mesopotamian influence, a local form of cuneiform came into use.

Politically, Elam alternated between alliance and rivalry with its Mesopotamian neighbours. Akkadians, Assyrians, and Babylonians repeatedly attacked Susa, yet Elam consistently rebuilt itself. It was ultimately absorbed by the Achaemenid Persian Empire in the 540s BCE. Even so, Elamite endured as an official administrative language under Persian rule — many of the administrative tablets from Persepolis are written in Elamite.