A significant discovery in the ancient city of Kish, located in modern Tell al-Uhaymir, Iraq, has unveiled the Kish Tablet, the oldest known written text dating back to the Uruk period (c. 3500-3200 BCE). This artifact features proto-cuneiform signs, marking a crucial stage in the evolution of writing.
Proto-cuneiform, originating in Mesopotamia, is characterized by pictographs that represent specific ideas rather than transcribing spoken language. The Kish Tablet serves as a vital record of economic activities, particularly in production, trade, and labor.
Despite challenges in deciphering proto-cuneiform, the tablet offers invaluable insights into the transition from pictographic systems to the more complex cuneiform writing that emerged later. Cuneiform symbols were designed to correlate with spoken language, enabling the formation of distinct words.
The process of creating these symbols involved impressing them into soft clay tablets, which hardened quickly in the region's hot climate, ensuring their durability over millennia. The original Kish Tablet is housed at the Iraq Museum in Baghdad, with a plaster cast displayed at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.