Selenga walked slowly through the museum.
Behind glass cases sat brown stones covered in strange markings.
“Is that writing?” she asked.
“Cuneiform,” replied the museum guide. “One of the oldest writing systems in history.”
“Who invented it?”
“The Sumerians. About 5,000 years ago.”
That night, Selenga had a dream.
Mesopotamia
Selenga stood by a river.
Two great rivers flowed around her. One on the left, one on the right.
“The Euphrates and the Tigris,” said a boy beside her. "These lands are called Mesopotamia. It means 'between two rivers.'"
“It looks very fertile.”
“It is. Wheat grows here. Barley grows here. People built cities. And when you have cities, you need to keep track of things.”
“Keep track of what?”
"Who gives how much wheat? What does the temple receive? Who owes what? It's hard to remember everything."
The Birth of Writing
The boy led her to a temple.
Inside, a man was kneading clay.
He flattened it smooth. He picked up a small tool with a triangular tip.
Then he pressed it into the clay. V-shaped marks appeared.
“Is that writing?” asked Selenga.
“This is a number,” said the man. "One hundred sacks of wheat. I can't remember this. So I write it in clay."
Selenga watched.
The clay would dry. The mark would stay. Even after years passed.
“What happened to this writing later?”
The man smiled. “First it was just numbers. Then words joined in. Then stories.”
The Clay Tablet
The boy gave Selenga an empty piece of clay.
And a stylus.
“Write something.”
Selenga pressed down.
A V. Then an upside-down V. Then a horizontal line.
“What does it mean?”
"Nothing yet. But you're writing for the first time. Just like that Sumerian 5,000 years ago."
Selenga held the tablet.
The clay was cool. It was heavy.
“Will this tablet last thousands of years?”
“It will. The ones in museums are still there.”
The Epic of Gilgamesh
“What did they write with this writing?” asked Selenga.
“First, accounts. Then laws. Then stories.”
“Stories too?”
“The Epic of Gilgamesh. The oldest written story in the world. It tells the adventures of a hero.”
“Could I write an epic with this cuneiform?”
The boy laughed. “What would you write on this clay?”
Selenga thought.
"'Selenga was here,“ she said. ”And she saw many things."
“If someone found that tablet in 5,000 years, they could read it.”
“Really?”
"The Sumerians' writings are still being read today. Yours would be too."
Waking Up
Selenga woke up.
She went to her desk. She picked up a pen. She wrote on paper.
“Selenga was here.”
Then she looked at it.
“Which lasts longer—paper or clay tablets?” she wondered.
She called to her mother in the kitchen:
“Mom! Cuneiform was written on clay. Clay lasts forever. We write on paper. Which one survives longer?”
Laughter came from the kitchen.
“Go research it and find out.”
What We Learned From This Story
1. Cuneiform was developed by the Sumerians around 3200 BCE and is one of the oldest known writing systems. 2. Writing began as a way to keep business records, then evolved into stories and laws. 3. The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest known written literary work in the world. 4. Mesopotamia, located between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in modern-day Iraq, is where civilization first took shape. 5. Clay tablets have survived thousands of years, which is why we can still read ancient Sumerian texts today.
Questions to Discuss as a Family
1. What would the world be like without writing? 2. If you could write something on a clay tablet that would last 5,000 years, what would it be? 3. What do you think will survive from our time for future generations to read?