Cuneiform writing: Did you mean...?

Clay tablets with cuneiform letters found at Kültepe in central Turkey (ancient Kanesh), 1900 BCE – 1700 BCE. They were all written by merchants who, from around 1900 BCE, had come to Kanesh from the city of Ashur in Assyria and established...

The interior hollow surface of the earring. Note how the carved cuneiform signs appear on this side and how the goldsmith joined the “lunar-shaped” segments of the earring. One of a pair of gold earrings, 24 carats. Gift from Shulgi to a...

Both earrings are placed in a mirror-image position, with the lower surfaces facing each other. Each earring is composed of nine lunar-shaped segments forming a flattened half- ball. The cuneiform signs run vertically from above downward...

The cuneiform text of this clay tablet orders men to go to Babylon for a court hearing. This letter from Hammurabi is addressed to an official named Sin-iddinam. Old Babylonian Period, reign of Hammurabi, 1792-1750 BCE. From Larsa, Southern...

A 1918 photograph of a Canadian soldier writing while in a trench on the Western Front during the First World War (1914-18). (Imperial War Museums)

17th-century, woodcut recreation of Li Po writing 100 verses while drinking a quart of wine seated on the veranda with a group of men.

A limestone relief slab depicting Seshat, the Egyptian goddess of writing. ca. 1919-1875 BCE. (Brooklyn Museum, USA).

The Indus Script is the writing system developed by the Indus Valley Civilization and it is the earliest form of writing known in the Indian subcontinent. The origin of this script is poorly understood: this writing system remains undeciphered...

A brief look into a new book that will bring insight into the world's oldest writing system by authors Irving Finkel and Jonathan Taylor, curators of the world's largest collection of cuneiform tablets at the British Museum. British Museum...

My animation takes you through the birth and evolution of writing. Watch the story of the world's scripts unfold, from the early cave days to modern writing systems. But only if you choose to take Thoth's Pill... This animated documentary...