A number of tokens, then, might mean a herd of goat. For example, they might take small stones and use them as tokens or representations of something else, like a goat. This is similar to how the Latin alphabet is used today for writing English, French, Spanish and German for example.īefore the development of cuneiform, tokens were used by the Sumerians to record certain information. Cuneiform signs were used for the writing of at least a dozen languages. Oddly, the signs were often almost too small to see with the naked eye. Sumerian writers would impress these lines into the wet clay with a stylus - a long, thin, pointed instrument which looked somewhat like a pen.
Marked synonym series#
The original cuneiform signs consisted of a series of lines - triangular, vertical, diagonal and horizontal. The word ‘cuneiform’ actually refers to the marks or signs inscribed in the clay. But clay has proved to be resistant to those particular kinds of damage. Other surfaces which have been employed - for example, parchment, papyrus and paper - are not long - lasting and are easily destroyed by fire and water. Clay was an excellent medium for writing. It was most often inscribed on palmsized, rectangular clay tablets measuring several centimetres across, although occasionally, larger tablets or cylinders were used. Cuneiform, the world’s first known system of handwriting, originated some 6.000 years ago in Summer in what is now southern Iraq.
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