Invention of Writing (Sumer)
Cuneiform script emerges in Mesopotamia, marking the boundary between prehistory and history — the moment we started keeping receipts.
Explore this event on the interactive timeline →The earliest known writing system, Sumerian cuneiform, arose primarily for economic record-keeping — tracking grain stores, debts, and trades. Literature and law would come later.
Perspective
It's telling that writing was invented for accounting, not poetry. Our first permanent records are tax receipts and debt ledgers. The pattern of power and record-keeping being intertwined starts right here and never stops.