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A look at how the people of Mesopotamia invented writing using clay and reeds.
Imagine you are a farmer with 500 bags of grain, but you have no way to write down who you sold them to. How would you remember your trades without a phone, a computer, or even a piece of paper?
Long ago in a place called Mesopotamia, people became very good at farming. They grew so much grain and raised so many sheep that they couldn't remember everything! They needed a way to keep track of their business. At first, they used small clay tokens to count things, but as their cities grew, they needed a better system. This led to the invention of writing. Instead of just counting on their fingers, they began to record information that would last forever.
Quick Check
What was the main reason the people of Mesopotamia invented writing?
Answer
They needed to keep track of their trade, grain, and animals.
Ancient writers didn't have pens or paper. Instead, they looked to the riverbanks for help. They used clay, which was soft and easy to find. They would shape the wet clay into a flat square called a tablet. To write, they used a stylus. A stylus was a long, thin reed from a plant that was sharpened into a point. Because the reed was shaped like a triangle, it made a specific mark when pressed into the wet clay.
Imagine you are an ancient student. Follow these steps to 'write' like a Mesopotamian: 1. Find a piece of soft playdough (your clay tablet). 2. Take a popsicle stick or a square-edged chopstick (your stylus). 3. Press the corner of the stick into the dough at an angle. 4. Notice the triangle shape it leaves behind!
Quick Check
What were the two main tools used to create ancient writing?
Answer
A clay tablet and a stylus (made from a reed).
The writing system they created is called cuneiform. The name comes from a Latin word that means 'wedge-shaped.' This is because every letter or symbol was made of small, wedge-shaped marks. It wasn't an alphabet with letters like . Instead, it had over different symbols! It took many years of school for a person, called a scribe, to learn how to read and write them all.
If a scribe wanted to record bags of grain, they wouldn't write the word 'five.' They would: 1. Draw a symbol that looked like a stalk of barley. 2. Make small wedge marks next to it using their stylus. 3. Let the clay tablet dry in the sun so the record became permanent.
At first, cuneiform used pictographs, which are simple drawings of objects (like a picture of a cow to mean 'cow'). Over time, the drawings became simpler and faster to write. Eventually, the symbols represented sounds instead of just objects. This was a huge step in human history! It allowed people to write poems, laws, and even letters to their friends.
Imagine you have to record a trade of fish for loaves of bread. 1. You must press your stylus into the clay times for the fish. 2. You must press it times for the bread. 3. If you make a mistake, you have to smooth the wet clay over and start again! There were no erasers in BCE.
What does the word 'Cuneiform' mean?
What was a 'scribe' in ancient Mesopotamia?
Ancient people used paper and ink to write cuneiform.
Review Tomorrow
Tomorrow, try to remember the name of the 'wedge-shaped' writing and the two tools used to make it.
Practice Activity
Find some mud or playdough outside and try to 'write' a message using a square-edged stick. See how many different wedge shapes you can make!