Clay tablet

In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets were used as a way to write things down, especially for writing in cuneiform, during the Bronze Age and even into the Iron Age. People would press special marks into wet clay using a tool called a stylus, often made from a plant called a reed (reed pen).

After writing, many tablets were left to dry in the sun or air, but they stayed delicate. Sometimes, these tablets were fired in very hot kilns on purpose, or they became hard by accident if buildings caught fire. This made them last a long time. These clay tablets were the first way people kept records, and they formed the basis of the very first libraries.

Many tablets that have been found in the Middle East contain information, and lots of pieces of tablets have been discovered. In places like the Minoan and Mycenaean areas, most tablets were used for keeping track of things, like money and goods. Some tablets were damaged by fires, while others stayed soft and break easily. Because of this, some groups are trying new ways to protect these old tablets.

Scribes (dub-sar)

In ancient Mesopotamia, people started writing by using simple marks to count things, like sheep or grain, which they pressed into small clay pieces. This helped them keep track of trades in their busy marketplaces. Over time, these marks turned into pictures called pictographs on clay tablets.

Scribes, the people who wrote, used special tools called styluses to make marks on wet clay. The tablets came in different colors, like white, brown, and dark gray. By around 4000 BCE, these pictures began to appear more often. Later, the Sumerians created a writing style called cuneiform, which used wedge-shaped marks and could even write everyday spoken words by 2500 BCE. Other places, like Ancient Egypt and China, also used picture-like writing, known as hieroglyphs and characters.

Uses of clay tablets

Clay tablets were used to write many kinds of stories and information, like myths, fables, and important rules. They helped people remember great tales, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, which told of a big flood. Clay tablets also held secrets like old recipes, including a stew made from goat, garlic, onions, and sour milk.

Later, writers began creating shorter stories and thinking deeply about life. One example is the story called the "Debate between bird and fish", showing how people used clay tablets to share their ideas.

Communication

See also: Amarna letters

Communication became easier because clay tablets allowed people to send messages like mail. Important or private messages were protected by an extra layer of clay to keep them secret. This method of sharing information was used for more than 3000 years in fifteen different languages. The Sumerians, Babylonians, and Eblaites each had their own libraries of clay tablets.

History by region

Babylonia

Fragments of tablets with stories from the Epic of Gilgamesh have been found, dating back to between 1800 and 1600 BCE. A full version of this story was discovered on tablets from the 1st millennium BCE.

Tablets with records of Babylonian astronomical records, like Enuma Anu Enlil and MUL.APIN, go back to around 1800 BCE. These records kept going until around 75 CE. Some tablets from the British Museum talk about when Halley's Comet appeared in 164 BCE and 87 BCE.