System of Record Keeping: Cuneiform
Cuneiform is an ancient writing system, created when ancient civilizations needed to find a way to keep records of what happened from year to year.
For example:
Almost all great Mesopotamian civilizations used cuneiform as their way written communication. In 3000 BCE the number of characters was reduced from 1,000-600. This style was very popular and resulted in some great literary works including, Atrahasis, and The Descent of Inanna. Yet these were both unknown until the mid 19th century CE.
For example:
- How much grain was produced last year
- How much livestock and of what kind they had last year
- How much a share of grain was given
- How much grain was offered to the gods
Almost all great Mesopotamian civilizations used cuneiform as their way written communication. In 3000 BCE the number of characters was reduced from 1,000-600. This style was very popular and resulted in some great literary works including, Atrahasis, and The Descent of Inanna. Yet these were both unknown until the mid 19th century CE.
The characters can be written either horizontally or vertically it really doesn't matter. In this system symbols usually have more then one meaning, they tend to have about three or four depending on their use.
Cuneiform was original writing for the Law Code Stele of Hammurabi and when it comes to important documents such as these, even these ancient civilizations would sign with a signature. These signatures were called Cylinder Seal's , they were small pierced object like rounded beads, with indentations on each. Every bead was owned by one person and worn as either a bracelet or a necklace. |
Sources:
http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/cuneiform.html
http://www.ancient.eu.com/cuneiform/
http://www.ancientscripts.com/cuneiform.html
http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/cuneiform.html
http://www.ancient.eu.com/cuneiform/
http://www.ancientscripts.com/cuneiform.html
This is an example of how cuneiform started out as pictures, yet as time went by the changed. This is because as people started using this type of writing the would go faster and faster with each picture, slowly changing it. As time went by the started looking slightly different, then the picture was transformed into a symbol instead.
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-Sarah Sotelo