The Mesopotamian alphabet (cuneiform). Click here for the picture link.
Writing
The Sumerians created a written language called cuneiform. Cuneiform is writing that used wedge-shaped characters. The word cuneiform comes from the Latin word for "wedge". Sumerians used a wedge-shaped stylus to write in clay. When cuneiform was first invented, there were about 2,000 symbols that stood for ideas and sounds! Over time, this number was reduced to around 700. Cuneiform was based on another style of writing: pictographs. You've probably heard of pictographs before. The pictograph writing style used symbols that stood for real objects to write.