To the modern human writing is a second nature, most people do not think twice before they go to write a letter to someone or make a grocery list. What is not often thought about is the world before there was a written language and how people developed the first written way of communication. People began to realize that it was not reliable to remember everything that was used to run their society and that there was a need to record this information.
They needed to be able to write down the laws and punishments for people that broke them, they needed a way to record their religious beliefs and to keep track of important events in their history. Before a writing system was developed people started drawing pictures, these were called pictographs. The Sumerians then began to construct the first writing system. In 4000B. C. the first written system know to man kind was created, this was called cuneiform. Cuneiform was a system of wedge shaped characters and symbols.
The Sumerians were extremely important to the evolution of writing, without the development of the cuneiform writing system, it would have been impossible for more advanced writing systems to be created as well as expanding trade and recording of administrative and religious data. Writing is a very simple thing that is used to express many complex things, today our world would not be able to function without a written language, but how did the first form of writing develop?
Before writing was created the Sumerians and other people around the world used simple pictures that could be identified as a certain object or symbol that meant stood for something. These were called pictographs, pictographs were a way for people to remember important things and draw important parts of their history. Scholars today use pictographs found in caves and remains to learn more about prehistory. Still today pictographs are used for universal symbols, to make it easier for people from around the world to communicate with each other.
Once the Sumerians had used pictographs for a while they began to create certain drawings or symbols that resembled common words, for example when they were talking about a house they would draw a shallow v, as stated in historyworld. net. This continued for sometime until it became necessary for the Sumerians to create a written language. They finally did so and called it cuneiform. The process of creating a written language took a good amount of time but once it was done the community was able to advance much farther than they would have ever been able to with out a written way of communication.
Now that the Sumerians have a written language, they were beginning to figure out all the uses of writing. They originally needed a writing system so they could keep documentation of their history, their cultural values, the laws, trading documents, and to keep track of tax records. Now that the Sumerians had a language that was not just by oral communication they began to write letters for themselves and others, this was really important because it allows scholars today to get a deeper understanding of their everyday life and culture.
If they had not come up with a writing system when they did and waited until later, people today would not have nearly as much knowledge about prehistory as they do. Cuneiform began to spread to all over the world which made it even more useful for communication, as stated by Nancy Stockdale in her reference article, “as one of the oldest forms of writing known to humanity cuneiform had a immeasurable impact on societies in Mesopotamia. Used in one form or another from the fourth millennium BCE until the first century CE cuneiform gave written expression to millions of people in many different societies and mpires. ”
Cuneiform was the first written language known to mankind so this took a lot of work by its creators, the Sumerians. The birth place of cuneiform was Mesopotamia, Mesopotamia is now modern Iraq, it was the perfect land for civilization and as Nancy Stockdale says ” Mesopotamia was a birth place of urban society. ” Because of its location between two rivers it made it the perfect place to settle because there was easy water access which lead to many irrigation inventions, it allowed many trade routes and made it easier for the towns people to survive.
With the land being so rich with the natural sources for survival it made the society very advanced, this could be one reason why the Sumerians created cuneiform and not some other group of people. Cuneiform was created during the fourth millennium and from there on forever changed the world. Cuneiform means wedge shaped. Cuneiform is a written language carved onto soft clay tablets using a sharp tool called a stylus and then set out in the sun to dry to harden the clay. Once the tablets are dry they can last for millions of years, without being damaged.
When cuneiform was first developed it was very similar to pictographs and then as the language evolved people began to read left to right and the language transformed into more symbols for each letter or sound not pictures that meant a specific thing. As stated by Joshua J. Mark “Cuneiform developed to the point where it could be made clear, to use Kriwaczek’s example, whether the sheep were coming or going to the temple, for what purpose, and whether they were living or dead. Cuneiform continued to develop and adapted to the new people and new circumstances that arose in the civilizations that were dependent on the language, until 100 B. C. E when it was abandoned for alphabetic script. Similar to many things in history there are several unknowns that scholars are still studying. So far the scholars that have studied the cuneiform writing system have used tablets that have been preserved throughout time to learn how the language was written and how it evolved over time.
The cuneiform writing system had an immense impact on the world and helped shape the world we have today. Cuneiform was the first written language and lead to many other advancements in civilizations that utilized the language. Sumerians could keep record of important historical events and religious practices. With the invention of this language Sumerians opened new doors with people to trade goods, because they now had the ability to keep records of who they traded with and what they traded.
If they had not successfully created a language the Sumerian communities would have come to a stand still in advancing their way of life until their civilizations began to fail and fall apart. The Sumerians were extremely important to the evolution of writing, without the development of the cuneiform writing system, it would have been impossible for more advanced writing systems to be created as well as expanding trade and recording of administrative and religious data
