cuneiform
Ancient wedge marks
Cuneiform is the wedge-shaped writing system used in ancient Mesopotamia, pressed into clay tablets with a reed stylus.
The term comes from the Latin for wedge.
Cuneiform recorded Sumerian, Akkadian, and other languages for over three thousand years.
As an adjective, cuneiform describes anything wedge-shaped: cuneiform bones in the foot.
Tapering to an edge
- stylusPointed implement for marking
- clay tabletsInscribed earthen slabs
- SumerianEarliest known civilization
- AkkadianAncient Semitic Mesopotamian language
Babylonian · Assyrian · syllabary · logograms · ideograms · pictographs · scribes · reed pen
Of the ankle
- footLeg's lowest part
- ankleLeg-foot joint
- wedge-shapedTapering to an edge
- navicularBoat-shaped bone
cuboid · intermediate · lateral · medial · articulation · metatarsal · skeleton · anatomy
Ancient southern Mesopotamian people
- AkkadiansAncient Semitic Mesopotamian civilization
- BabyloniansAncient Mesopotamian civilization
- AssyriansAncient Mesopotamian empire builders
- TigrisWestern Asian river
Euphrates · ziggurat · Ur · Nineveh · Hammurabi · Sargon · Nebuchadnezzar · city-states
Moldable earth for ceramics
- inscriptionText permanently marked
- GilgameshMesopotamian epic protagonist
- Enuma ElishBabylonian cosmogonic narrative
- archivesStored historical documents
library · records · correspondence · administrative · literary · legal · astronomical · medical
Act of unearthing
- artifactsHuman-made historical objects
- epigraphyStudy of ancient inscriptions
- stratigraphyStudy of rock layers
- tellConvey information verbally
site · British Museum · Louvre · translation · preservation · conservation · discovery · expedition
wedge-shaped
Tapering to an edge
- stylusPointed implement for marking
- clay tabletsInscribed earthen slabs
- SumerianEarliest known civilization
Akkadian · Babylonian · Assyrian · syllabary · logograms · ideograms · pictographs · scribes · reed pen · impressed
tarsal
Of the ankle
- footLeg's lowest part
- ankleLeg-foot joint
- wedge-shapedTapering to an edge
navicular · cuboid · intermediate · lateral · medial · articulation · metatarsal · skeleton · anatomy · orthopedics
Sumerians
Ancient southern Mesopotamian people
- AkkadiansAncient Semitic Mesopotamian civilization
- BabyloniansAncient Mesopotamian civilization
- AssyriansAncient Mesopotamian empire builders
Tigris · Euphrates · ziggurat · Ur · Nineveh · Hammurabi · Sargon · Nebuchadnezzar · city-states · Marduk
clay
Moldable earth for ceramics
- inscriptionText permanently marked
- GilgameshMesopotamian epic protagonist
- Enuma ElishBabylonian cosmogonic narrative
archives · library · records · correspondence · administrative · literary · legal · astronomical · medical · lexical
excavation
Act of unearthing
- artifactsHuman-made historical objects
- epigraphyStudy of ancient inscriptions
- stratigraphyStudy of rock layers
tell · site · British Museum · Louvre · translation · preservation · conservation · discovery · expedition · Persepolis
- historyancient civilizations, past events, historian, epochs, era
- ancient historyancient history, ancient world, classical antiquity, ancient empires, Mesopotamia
- ancient worldancient Greece, ancient Rome, ancient Egypt, pyramids, pyramid
- artifactspottery shards, knives, masks, pottery, antiquity
- bonesskull, femur, tibia, skulls, humerus
- Middle EastIraq, Baghdad, Cairo, Iran, Jordan
cuneiformGreek alphabet
Writing system from antiquity
Chinese characters · hieroglyphics · hieroglyphic · Roman alphabet · Latin alphabet
cuneiformcontemporary writing
Recently produced text
digital text · print · keyboard input · handwriting · cursive
- cuneiform tabletAncient Sumerian written record
- cuneiform writingWedge-shaped ancient script
- cuneiform scriptWedge-shaped ancient writing