What is cuneiform script?
Q: What is cuneiform script?
A: Cuneiform script is one of the earliest known systems of writing. It used wedge-shaped marks on clay tablets, made by a reed stylus. The name cuneiform itself means "wedge shaped".
Q: When was it first used?
A: Cuneiform writing began in Sumer in the late 4th millennium BC (the 'Uruk IV' period).
Q: How did it evolve over time?
A: In the third millennium, the signs became simplified and more abstract. Fewer characters were used, from about 1,000 in the early Bronze Age to about 400 in late Bronze Age (Hittite cuneiform).
Q: What languages was it adapted for?
A: The original Sumerian script was adapted for the writing of Akkadian, Eblaite, Elamite, Hittite, Luwian, Hattic, Hurrian and Urartian languages.
Q: How did it influence other scripts?
A: It inspired the Ugaritic and Old Persian alphabets.
Q: When was it replaced by another script?
A: Cuneiform writing was gradually replaced by the Phoenician alphabet during the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
Q: When did knowledge of how to read cuneiform become lost?
A By the 2nd century BC, knowledge of how to read cuneiform had been lost until it began to be deciphered in the 19th century.
