Mesopotamian Writing and Tablet Making MES-4

The Need for Writing Mesopotamians needed to keep track of their deals They began to make lists

The Need for Writing To make lists, they drew simple pictures of an item They then used tally marks to show how many of an item were traded

The Need for Writing This took a long time Soon, expert recorders, called scribes, would be used

Writing System As time passed, drawings improved Pictures turned to symbols that were quicker to write Symbols now stood for words and sounds

Writing System The system of writing was called Cuneiform (kyoo NEE uh form) Scribes used this system of symbols to record almost anything! It first started in the southern part of Mesopotamia called Sumer

School Most people (even kings) couldn’t read at the time Most Mesopotamian children did not go to school Those who did had wealthy parents

School Classes lasted a long time First taught to make clay tablets and reed “pens” Then taught to write with Cuneiform

Clay Tablets Scribes had to make their own tablets When the clay dried, it served as a permanent record This is how historians have learned so much about Mesopotamia!