Writing in Mesopotamia was a skilled …

The first Mesopotamian tablets, were written around 3200 BCE. These contained picture-like signs and numbers. A tablet was made of clay. A scribe would wet clay and pat it into a size which could be comfortably held in one hand. The sharp end of a reed (cut obliquely) was used as a writing tool. Wedge-shaped (cuneiform) signs were pressed on the smooth surface of the tablet; while the tablet was still moist. After that, the tablet was dried in the sun. Hundreds of tablets have recovered from Mesopotamian sites. Writing was used not only for keeping records, but also for making dictionaries, giving legal validity to land transfers, narrating the deeds of kings, and announcing the changes in the customary laws of the land.

The System of Writing: The sound; represented by a cuneiform sign was not a single consonant or vowel, but syllables. So, a Mesopotamian scribe had to learn hundreds of sounds. Writing was a skilled craft. It was an enormous intellectual achievement.

Literacy: Because of the complexities involved in writing, very few people could read and write.