Final answer:
Cuneiform, the earliest known script, was written on clay tablets by the Sumerians in Mesopotamia around 3400 BC, becoming durable when fired and adaptable for various languages over time.
Step-by-step explanation:
The earliest known script, cuneiform, was written by pressing a stylus made of reed into clay tablets. This system of writing originated around 3400 BC in southern Mesopotamia and was used by the Sumerians for recording various kinds of information such as commercial transactions, laws, and religious texts. When the tablets were fired, they became durable records much like the bricks used for construction during that period. The versatility of cuneiform allowed it to adapt over time to several different languages and remained in use until it was eventually replaced by alphabetic scripts.