WORLD HISTORY

HISTORY

THE ANCIENT MIDDLE EAST AND EGYPT 3200 BC500 BC

Question [CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
Sumerian scribes wrote wedge-shaped marks on ____
A
clay tablets
B
papyrus scrolls
C
pictographs
D
temple walls and ceilings
Explanation: 

Detailed explanation-1: -Cuneiform is one of the oldest forms of writing known. It means “wedge-shaped, ‘’ because people wrote it using a reed stylus cut to make a wedge-shaped mark on a clay tablet. Letters enclosed in clay envelopes, as well as works of literature, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh have been found.

Detailed explanation-2: -The clay tablet was thus being used by scribes to record events happening during their time. Tools that these scribes used were styluses with sharp triangular tips, making it easy to leave markings on the clay; the clay tablets themselves came in a variety of colors such as bone white, chocolate, and charcoal.

Detailed explanation-3: -Cuneiform Script In the late 4th millennium BC a form of writing now called cuneiform (which means wedge-shaped) arose in Mesopotamia amongst a people known as the Sumerians. A cuneiform sign is composed of at least one of three basic wedges, which can be combined to create infinitely complicated signs.

Detailed explanation-4: -First developed around 3200 B.C. by Sumerian scribes in the ancient city-state of Uruk, in present-day Iraq, as a means of recording transactions, cuneiform writing was created by using a reed stylus to make wedge-shaped indentations in clay tablets.

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