The Ancients · History Hit

How to Write Cuneiform with Dr. Irving Finkel

February 8, 2026·1 hr·3 clips

As heard by us

A clear, tactile account of how pictures became cuneiform signs in Mesopotamian clay.

Cuneiform opens on a simple, useful question: how did pictures of a river, a woman, or an animal head turn into the straight-edged marks pressed into clay across Mesopotamia and beyond?

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Why you'd press play

Want to feel how simple clay signs became the first writing system known to archaeology?

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