Earliest writing we know of dates back to around 3000 BC and was probably invented by Sumerians, living in major cities with centralized economies in what is now southern Iraq. Earliest tablets with written inscriptions represent the work of administrators, perhaps of large cording the allocation of rations or movement and storage of goods. Temple officials needed to keep records of the grain, sheep and cattle entering or leaving their stores and farms and it became impossible to rely on memory. So, an alternative method was required and very earliest texts were pictures of items scribes needed to record (pictographs). During its 3000 year history, cuneiform was used to write around 15 different languages including Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Elamite, Hittite, Urartian and Old Persian. Writing, recording of a spoken language, emerged from earlier recording systems, 4th Millennium BC. First written language in Mesopotamia is called Sumerian. Most of early tablets come from Uruk, in southern Mesopotamia, and it may have been here that this form of writing was invented. These texts were drawn on damp clay tablets using a pointed tool. It seems scribes realized it was quicker and easier to produce representations of such things as animals, rather than naturalistic impressions of them. They began to draw marks in the clay to make up signs, which were standardized so they could be recognized by many people. From these beginnings, cuneiform signs were put together and developed to represent sounds, so they could be used to record spoken language. Once this was achieved, ideas and concepts could be expressed and communicated in writing. Cuneiform is one of 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 Epic of Gilgamesh have been found. Historical accounts have also come to light, as have huge libraries such as that belonging to Assyrian king, Ashurbanipal. Department’s collection of cuneiform tablets is among the most important in the world. It contains approx. 130,000 texts and fragments and is perhaps largest collection outside of Iraq. Centerpiece of collection is the Library of Ashurbanipal, comprising many thousands of most important tablets ever found. Significance of these tablets was immediately realized by Library’s excavator, Austin Henry Layard, who wrote : "They furnish us with materials for the complete decipherment of the cuneiform character, for restoring the language and history of Assyria, and for inquiring into the customs, sciences, and . . . literature, of its people." Decipherment of cuneiform began in 18th Century as European scholars searched for proof of the places and events recorded in Bible. Travelers, antiquaries, and some of the earliest archaeologists visited the ancient Near East where they uncovered great cities such as Nineveh. They brought back a range of artifacts, including thousands of clay tablets covered in cuneiform. Scholars began the incredibly difficult job of trying to decipher these strange signs representing languages no-one had heard for thousands of years. Gradually, cuneiform signs representing these different languages were deciphered thanks to work of a number of dedicated people. Confirmation that they had succeeded came in 1857. Royal Asiatic Society sent copies of a newly found clay record of military and hunting achievements of King Tiglath-pileser I to four scholars: Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, Edward Hincks, Julius Oppert, and William H. Fox Talbot. They each worked independently and returned translations that broadly agreed with each other. This was accepted as proof that cuneiform had been successfully deciphered, but there are still elements that we don’t completely understand and study continues. © Trustees of the British Museum #archaeohistories