Cuneiform
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Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the 1st century BC. Cuneifor
A trilingual cuneiform inscription of Xerxes I at Van Fortress in Turkey, an Achaemenid royal inscription written in Old Persian, Elamite and Babylonian forms of cuneiform
Clay bulla and tokens, 4000–3100 BC, Susa
Numerical tablet, 3500–3350 BC (Uruk V phase), Khafajah
Pre-cuneiform tags, with drawing of goat or sheep and number (probably "10"), Al-Hasakah, 3300–3100 BC, Uruk culture
History of writing
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The history of writing traces the development of writing systems and how their use transformed different societies. The use of writing – as well as the resulting phenomena of literacy and literary cul
Cuneiform
…at the end of the 4th millennium BC, and soon after in various parts of the Near-East. An ancient Mesopotamian poem gives the first known story of the invention of writing: Because the messenger's mouth was heavy and he couldn't repeat [the message], the Lord of Kulaba patted some clay and put words on it, like a tablet…
Turtle plastron inscribed with an eye-like symbol – Jiahu, China (c. 6000 BC)