The Cuneiform Language

Written by Emily Nickels, Year 7 Student

In IAS we were given a ‘clay tablet’ that the Sumerians used to write on using the cuneiform language but, instead of clay, it was a shortbread dough.

We learned about how cuneiform impacted on the lifestyles and situations of the Sumerians. For example, it might be used for trading when they had to trade for different products, such as crops and materials, in which they would need to write down the number of crops they had for harvesting. They might have also used Cuneiform for writing down their laws and rules, daily events and even astronomy. Cuneiform was created because it was the easiest and most effective way to communicate in writing, by using symbols, made up from the wedge-shaped symbol. ‘Cuneus’ means wedge in Latin. We made the wedge-shaped symbols by using the side angle of a chopstick. We wrote some cuneiform symbols on our tablet and in the end, had a reward to eat them!

A big thank you to our Chef Furlong for recreating a Sumerian Clay tablet for us to experiment with the cuneiform system.

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The Cuneiform Language

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