Cuneiform

Cuneiform (Latin cuneus, "wedge"), is the term used to describe the mode of writing utilizing wedge-shaped strokes, inscribed mainly on clay but also on stone, metals, wax and other materials. The ancient people of Western Asia used this technique. The earliest text in the Cuneiform script was made in about 3000 BC, having antedated the use of alphabets by some 1500 years. The prime motivation was of an economic nature, the desire to administer economic and international trade transactions. Around 3000 BC Cuneiform was at the forefront of communications technology, with the first alphabet and the first typeface. This form of writing gave the ancient world a way of telling their history.

The majority of cuneiform inscriptions were written on clay tablets. One side of the tablet was flat. The scribe, or the writer, would start at the top left-hand edge of a tablet, work downwards to the bottom edge, return to the top of the next column and repeat the process. The tablets are written in rows like we would see in a newspaper.