The history of Written Medium

The history of Written Medium

The earliest writing we know of dates back to around 3,000 BC and was invented by the Sumerians. Temple officials needed to keep records of the grain, sheep and cattle entering or leaving their stores and farms and it became impossible to rely on memory. So, an alternative method was required and the very earliest texts were pictures of the items scribes needed to record (known as pictographs).

These texts were drawn on damp clay tablets using a pointed tool. The scribes realised it was quicker and easier to produce representations of things as animals, rather than naturalistic impressions of them. They began to draw marks in the clay to make up signs, which were standardised so they could be recognised by many people. A wedge-shaped instrument (usually a cut reed) was used to press the signs into soft clay. This gave the writing system its name, 'cuneiform', meaning wedge-shaped. cuneiform signs were put together and developed to represent sounds, so they could be used to record spoken language.

Once this was achieved, ideas and concepts could be expressed and communicated in writing e.g. letters enclosed in clay envelopes, as well as works of literature.

Written mediums also developed in Egypt. The most well-known script used for writing the Egyptian language was in the form of a series of small signs, or hieroglyphs. Some signs are pictures of real-world objects, while others are representations of spoken sounds. Some signs write one letter, some more, while others write whole words.