Sumerians write using pictograms

Writing was an essential development in ancient civilizations, allowing people to record observations, rituals and other information for future generations.

The Sumerian lived in Mesopotamia. They established cities, farmed, herded animals, hunted, fished and traded. As their trading increased they realized they needed a way to keep records. Around 3500 BC, the Sumerian people begin using pictograms as a form of writing. Unlike modern writing systems each picture or pictograms is a direct image of the object it represents.

Pictograms

The Sumerians used a reed stylus (stick) to carve the pictograms into wet clay tables. When the clay hardened the sorting became a permanent record.

Pictograms are a series of symbols depicting various objects and animals that are used to convey information. Each pictogram represents an object or an idea. Eventually the system expands to include more than 1000 different symbols.

The Sumerian pictograms evolved into what is known as cuneiform writing by using a wedge-shaped stylus, where the symbol represented the name of the thing than the actual thing itself.
Sumerians write using pictograms