Task 1.1 - Ancient writings: Cuneiform (9/16)

Ancient writings: Cuneiform

This is an early known writing system (c. 3000 B.C.E.) which consists of ‘wedge’ marks. It was written on clay tablets which were a writing medium during Bronze Age. Cuneiform was invented in southern Mesopotamia and includes syllabic scripts and logosyllabic scripts. Any script which contains wedges can be called cuneiform since it derived from the Latin word cuneus (wedge).

The earliest writing was based on pictograms. Therefore cuneiform characters were evolved from pictograms which had been rotated and changed into symbols and organized in horizontal rows.

Pictograms to Cuneiforms

This writing was written from left to right, and it is believed that it helped right-handed people to avoid smearing their work while writing.

Cuneiform writing was used for thousands of years which recorded daily events such as astronomy, trade and literature. 

The following are examples of : Early Cuneiform, Evolved Cuneiform and Akkadian Cuneiform.

Personal thought: In my opinion the Early and Evolved Cuneiform resemble the Chinese characters. On the other hand there is a contrast between these two ; Chinese is written vertically and it is not an alphabetic script.

Erin Singleton's Portfolio, 2014.Cuneiform and the Sumerians [ONLINE] Available at: http://erinsingleton.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/cuneiform-and-the-sumerians-3500-b-c/. [Accessed 28 March 2014].

Graphic Design History, 2014. Development of Writing : Using Clay and Stone. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.designhistory.org/Handwriting_pages/EarlyWriting.html. [Accessed 28 March 2014].

Writing, 2014. Writing. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/writing/home_set.html. [Accessed 28 March 2014].