Why are modern historians able to understand stories told by the ancient Sumerians? A. The stories were carved onto oracle bones
. B. The stories were written down in cuneiform. C. The stories were passed down orally through the ages. D. The stories were recorded in hieroglyphics.
The ancient Sumerian civilization invented the oldest written language in existence. It was invented arround 3,000 B.C. in what is now southern Iraq. First it was used by administrators, recording the amount of rations or the movement and storage of goods. It was later used to record stories, myths ans personal letters. The texts were drawn in wet clay tablets using a pointed tool, first they used signs that resemble animals or things, later these were standarized until they developed into representation of sounds, making it possible to record spoken language.
Cuneiform means "wedge shaped" making reference to the way it was written: using a red stylus cut to make wedge-shaped marks.
A lot of these tablets are found in nowadays museums making it possible to historians to read them.
