Seven Scripts Recording the Changes of the World

Author: Beijing Continental Bridge Culture and Media
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: The wedge-shaped script, also known as the nail head script, consists of straight lines that are thick at one end and thin at the other, resembling wedges or nails. The Arabs discovered this ancient script early on and named it the wedge-shaped script. About 500 years after it was named, the British rediscovered this ancient script, unaware that it already had a name, and renamed it the wedge-shaped script. The wedge-shaped script was originally not wedge-shaped but pictographic. After being simplified, the use of a special writing tool transformed the strokes into wedge shapes. The special writing tool consisted of a small stick as the "pen" and a soft clay tablet as the "paper." Pressing the stick onto the soft clay tablet created a wedge-shaped stroke without ink. The "pen" was held in the right hand and pressed diagonally, leaving a thicker impression at the end farthest from the hand and a thinner impression closer to the hand. The thicker end was on the left, and the thinner end was on the right. In other words, the wedge head was on the left, and the wedge tail was on the right. It could also be oriented with the wedge head on top and the wedge tail on the bottom. The "pen" could be made from various materials: branches, grass stems, bones, wood, metal, etc. The "paper" of the clay tablet resembled bricks. After being dried or hardened by firing, the text could be preserved for a long time, similar to pottery. For confidential documents, another clay tablet could be used to cover the one with text, protecting it. Alternatively, the edges of two clay tablets could be sealed with soft clay (seal clay), stamped with an impression to create a clay tablet envelope. This writing method could be called "impression writing." P2-3