Archaic Clay Tablet

3100 BC - 2900 BC
Clay
Original Site Unknown
4.6 cm x 4.4 cm x 2.4 cm
A2513

Oriental Institute Museum

Artifact Description

Archaic Clay Tablet

This square, convex tablet is made of clay. It is inscribed on one side with an early form of cuneiform writing in which the signs are drawings of the things they represent. Writing first developed in the cities of ancient Mesopotamia, and clay tablets such as this one are among the earliest known written records. While most texts dealt with administrative procedures, others served as practice tablets for the education of scribal students. These tablets often consisted of lists of objects, places, or occupations.

Multimedia

An Early Clay Tablet
See how this early clay tablet used pictures to communicate.

Suggested Readings

Claiborne, Robert. The Birth of Writing. The Emergence of Man series. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1974.

Roaf, Michael. Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East. New York: Facts on File, 1990.

Walker, C.B.F. Cuneiform: Reading the Past. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987.

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