Areas to be considered: 

1. The development of writing 

2. System of writing 

3. Uses of writing 

The development of writing: 

AH societies have languages. Certain sounds in the language give certain meanings. This is verbal exchange. When speech sounds are represented in visible forms, we have writing or script. Mesopotamians wrote on clay slates. The writer kneads clay and makes it into a size that he can hold in one hand, The surface would be smoothened. Using a special kind of sharp stiletto he makes wedge-shaped letter marks on the smooth surface. This is called cuneiform writing. After that, the clay-slate is dried in the sun. This way the clay slates become permanent like clay pots. These slates couldn’t be used again for writing other things.

System of Writing: 

A cuneiform symbol does not represent a mere consonant or vowel sound, but a number of letters. Therefore a Mesopotamian script writer had to lean hundreds of symbols. He should have had the competence to handle a wet clay-slate and write on it before it goes dry. Thus writing on the clay-slate was a highly skilled job. It was an intellectual exercise which translated the sound system of a language into a visible format.

Uses of Writing: 

Writing has given man invaluable contributions. There was a close tie between the writing of Mesopotamia and its urban life and trade. It was the kings that linked writing with trade.

Writing was used to store information and to exchange messages. Many saw Mesopotamian writing as a sign proclaiming the dominance of Mesopotamian urban culture. 

The writing helped in communicating with other regions culturally and economically and to do the buying and selling on the basis of written agreements. In short, writing made trading easier. Writing helped in maintaining accounts and in keeping laws recorded. It was also useful for literary creations.