Final answer:
Six thousand years ago, written records were created using materials like papyrus in Egypt and clay tablets in Mesopotamia. Egyptian scribes' records were preserved by the dry climate, while Mesopotamians developed cuneiform writing which was used for a variety of records.
Step-by-step explanation:
How People Kept Written Records Six Thousand Years Ago
People six thousand years ago kept written records by using various materials and methods adapted to their local environments and the needs of their civilizations. For instance, Egyptian scribes used papyrus, made from the fibers of reed plants along the Nile, to create scrolls for documentation. These records were well-preserved thanks to Egypt's dry climate, which prevented the papyrus from rotting. Similarly, in Mesopotamia, the invention of cuneiform writing on clay tablets represented a significant advancement. Cuneiform began as a pictographic system and evolved into a script that combined these pictographs with syllabic symbols.
Persian recordkeeping also contributed valuable artifacts, as thousands of clay tablets from administrative archives like Persepolis have provided insight into the empire's functioning. The broader development of writing marked a transition from prehistory to history, with the earliest texts containing genealogies, accounts of actions, legal codes, and evidence of early human systems of government and daily life.