Cuneiform

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/cuneiform

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the writing system?Cuneiform (logo-syllabic script)
2. What is the originating culture?Sumerian
3. What is cuneiform and how did people write with it?Cuneiform is the world’s oldest writing system. People pressed a reed stylus into clay to make wedge shapes that looked like pictures or sounds.
4. Why did cuneiform start in Sumer and what did it first record?It began in Sumer, southern Mesopotamia, around the late 4th millennium BCE. It was first used to keep track of things like crops, animals, and trade.

Logo-syllabic Script: A writing system that uses both word signs (logograms) and syllable signs.
Epigraphy: The study of ancient inscriptions, especially on stone or clay.
Lingua Franca: A common language used between speakers of different native languages.