Sumerian cuneiform, 19th-century artwork. The inscription shown here dates from 3800 BC, around the time of the Sumerian civilisation in the Middle Ea

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Sumerian cuneiform, 19th-century artwork. The inscription shown here dates from 3800 BC, around the time of the Sumerian civilisation in the Middle East. This script, one of the earliest known forms of writing, was written on clay tablets with a reed stylus. The language died with the civilisation upon the rise of Babylonia in the late 3rd millennium BC, but the writing system was adopted by the Babylonians, Assyrians and Persians. Artwork from the 18th volume (second period of 1896) of the French popular science weekly 'La Science Illustree'.

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Size: 3290px × 5858px
Photo credit: © Science Photo Library / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 1800s, 1890s, 1896, 19th, annual, antiquity, archaeological, archaeology, archeology, artwork, black--white, century, classical, cuneiform, european, figuier, french, historical, history, illustration, illustree, la, louis, magazine, monochrome, museum, popular, science, script, sumerian, volume, weekly, writing