Writing was invented independently in several parts of the world. The earliest known system appeared in ancient Mesopotamia more than five thousand years ago. At first it was not used to record language at all. Instead, merchants pressed small marks into clay tablets to keep track of goods such as grain and animals.
Over time these simple marks became more abstract. Pictures that once stood for objects came to represent sounds, and writers could record whole sentences. This shift allowed people to store laws, stories, and letters that could be read long after the writer was gone.
Learning to write was never a common skill. In Mesopotamia, scribes trained for years in special schools, copying lists and practicing the shapes of signs until they could form them quickly and consistently. Because so few people could read, scribes held considerable influence, and once writing could record language their work was in demand for temple accounts, royal orders, and private agreements.
Because clay is durable, many of these early tablets survive today, giving historians a remarkable window into daily life thousands of years ago.