Do we know how long it took for cuneiform to develop from counting cows and barley, to drafting official documents and contracts, to creating literature?
Do we know how long it took for cuneiform to develop from counting cows and barley, to drafting official documents and contracts, to creating literature?
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Another way of putting the question:
What was the process of ancient Sumerian experimenting and realizing the potential of this new tool they had on their hands?
"Maybe I can use writing to do such-and-such thing..." and proceeded to do the first ever written snail-mail message, or the first medical or mathematical instructions/textbook, the first poem or essay, etc.
Once I have a way of drawing sounds I'm going to let that cunt Ea-Nasir know how I really feel.
2500 years later...
Archaeologist excitedly unearths cuneiform tablet
Hmmmm... "Ea-nasr... is... a cunt?!"
Quietly reburies tablet while looking around furtively
I can almost picture the academic analysis...
"The first character syllable can be read as kah or kuh, while the second character is read as unt, together they make the sound kawnt..."