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50 Things That Made the Modern Economy

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The stories of inventions, ideas and innovations which helped create the economic world

Tim Harford tells the fascinating stories of inventions, ideas and innovations which have helped create the economic world.

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50 Things That Made the Modern Economy: Cuneiform

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Cuneiform

29/04/2017 GMT

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Cuneiform, the earliest known script, was used to create the world’s first accounts

Cuneiform, the earliest known script, wasn’t used for poetry, or to send messages to far-off lands. It was used to create the world’s first accounts and written contracts.

The Egyptians thought literacy was divine; a benefaction which came from the baboon-faced god Thoth. In fact the earliest known script – “cuneiform” – came from Uruk, a Mesopotamian settlement on the banks of the Euphrates in what is now Iraq. What did it say? As Tim Harford describes, cuneiform wasn’t being used for poetry, or to send messages to far-off lands. It was used to create the world’s first accounts. And the world’s first written contracts, too.

Producer: Ben Crighton
Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon

(Image: Close-up of clay tablet, Credit: Kotomiti Okuma/Shutterstock)

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