Writing Your Name in Cuneiform

Cuneiform was the world’s first written language, and was created over 5,000 years ago. The only
recorded material about the civilization of the Hittites, one of the most powerful political organizations of
the entire Middle East during the 2nd millennium B.C., are 25,000 clay cuneiform tablets discovered in Bogazkale,
the modern name for the ancient Hittite capital city of Hattusas in the central area of Turkey. These archives even
include the “Treaty of Quadesh,” the first treaty ever recorded in history, signed between the Hittites and Egypt, a
treaty of “eternal peace” guaranteed throughout the region.
Pictograms, or drawings representing actual things, were the basis for cuneiform writing. As shown in the chart,
early pictograms resembled the objects they represented. However, through repeated use over time, they began to
look simpler, even abstract. The first pictograms were drawn in vertical columns with a pen made from a sharpened
reed. Then two developments made the process quicker and easier. People began to write in horizontal rows, and
a new type of pen was used which was pushed into the clay, producing the “wedge-shaped” signs that are known
as cuneiform writing. Cuneiform was written on clay tablets, the primary media for everyday written communication
which were also used extensively in schools. Tablets were routinely recycled and, if permanence was called for,
they could be baked hard in a kiln.
Activity 1:
1. Teachers, allow students to visit the web site http://www.upennmuseum.com/cuneiform.cgi. At that web site,
they are given the opportunity to type in the initials of their monogram, which are then converted into cuneiform.
2. Roll out Sculpey clay onto a 4×6 card.
3. Using tools such as the wedge-shaped pieces from a Trivial Pursuit game and popsicle sticks,
allow each student to imprint his or her cuneiform monogram onto one of the “tablets” of Sculpey
clay.
4. An additional option - Use a pencil to make holes at the edge of the clay (for hanging later).
5. Bake the clay pieces in an ordinary oven (instructions on Sculpey boxes) until brown and
ancient looking! Display your students’ cuneiform tablets around the classroom.
Special thanks to Cecilia Wondergem, St. Basil Catholic School in South Haven, Michigan.
Activity 2:
1. Make cuneiform “tablets” by placing 11 popsicle sticks side by side. Glue 3 sticks crosswise
to hold them together.
2. Paint the smooth sides of the tablets
in earth colors.
3. Draw your cuneiform monograms
on the smooth sides with ink, paint,
or using pipecleaners which can be
bent and glued into place.