Final answer:
Cuneiform, the world's first form of writing, was developed in Mesopotamia around 3000 BCE. Initially created for economic record-keeping, it evolved into a complex system that was used by various cultures in the region. Cuneiform records on clay tablets provide a rich source of historical information about ancient Mesopotamian life.
Step-by-step explanation:
The early form of writing known as cuneiform developed in the region of the world known as Mesopotamia. This writing system began around 3000 BCE and was primarily used for economic recordkeeping, such as tax records. Cuneiform writing evolved from pictographs to a script characteristic of wedge-shaped symbols, which eventually became a phonetic script where each symbol represented a syllable. The vast majority of cuneiform writing was done on clay tablets, which could be baked to create durable records. These tablets provide historians with extensive insights into the social, economic, and religious life of the Mesopotamians.
As time passed, the cuneiform script was adapted for use by other Mesopotamian cultures such as the Akkadians, Babylonians, and others. It remained in use until about the first century CE, being gradually replaced by alphabetic scripts such as Aramaic and Greek. The discovery of these tablets has allowed scholars to understand a great deal about ancient civilization in Mesopotamia.