Cuneiform

Cuneiform

Cuneiform is the first known system of human writing developed by the Sumerians. This system of writing was based on tablets and written with styluses. The symbols of cuneiform are very wedge like. Once the writing was finished on the clay tablets it was fired in a kiln. This system of writing helped improve the Sumerian civilization by allowing them to send messages and keep records. Cuneiform was spread rabidly to many people including the Akkadians, Babylonians, Sumerians and Assyrians who adapted the writing and then changed it. Cuneiform is extremely important to history because it was the first sytstem of writing that would be the basis for languages in Mesopotamia.

A Cunieform tablet from southern Iraq that is counting the amount of goats and sheep in the area.

Sources http://student.britannica.com/comptons/art-97513/Cuneiform-tablet-featuring-a-tally-of-sheep-and-goats-from http://www.upenn.edu/museum/Games/cuneiform.html

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Created By: Danielle Fishman on September 1, 2008 Edited by: Ian Worthington 9/3/08