The first Mesopotamian scribes created picture symbols in pieces of wet clay. The clay was then baked to harden it. The Mesopotamians attached these pieces of clay to baskets as tags to identify the contents. By 2000 BCE Sumerians developed symbols into a complete writing system. This writing system known as cuneiform was based on wedge-shaped symbols. Students in Mr. Taylor's 6th grade social studies created cuneiform writing in salt dough to help better understand how cuneiform was created.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~