The Sumerian language (the oldest written language…

3213 BCE to 3070 BCE

The Sumerian language (the oldest written language of Mesopotamia, with no known relatives) enters a pictographic stage about 3100.

Sumerians develop, or perhaps borrow, a system for representing speech—not ideas, as in earlier systems—by means of a set of standardized visual symbols.

The Sumerians cuneiform writing system consists of characters made with wedge-shaped strokes impressed into clay, brick, or stone.

Among extensive Late Uruk materials found at Brak/Nagar is a standard text for educated scribes (the "Standard Professions" text, known from Uruk IV), part of the standardized education taught in the third millennium BCE over a wide area of Syria and Mesopotamia.

Locations
Tell Brak > Nagar Al-Hasakah Syria View →

Groups
Mesopotamia View → Sumer View → Uruk, city-state of View → Uruk period View →

Topics
Subboreal Period during the Neolithic Subpluvial View → Early Bronze Age I (Near and Middle East) View → Piora Oscillation ending the Neolithic Subpluvial View → Subboreal Period View →

Subjects
Language View → Writing View → Environment View → Scholarship View → Anthropology View → Archaeology View → Linguistics View →

Regions

Subregions

Related Events

Active Filters
People: Pope Pius VI
Location: Straubing Bayern Germany
Refine Results

No related events match the current filters.