Cuneiform was one of the earliest forms of writing, developed in the ancient lands of Mesopotamia. The complex social structure of Babylonian society created a need to make records, which pertained to temple acquisitions, land transactions, financial loans, and so on. In addition, they preserved their epic stories and personal letters in writing. They would write these documents and letters on a wet clay tablet, which was then dried.
Cuneiform is instantly recognisable by the wedge-shaped marks, usually pressed into clay tablets. Indeed, the name ‘cuneiform’ literally means “wedge-shaped”. The text would have been written using a blunt reed.
