The sign for “food” (also for“bread”) in proto-cuneiform is the shape of a beveled-rim bowl.

The scribes do not seem to have thought of this scriptthat they had invented as a representation of language.

This proto-cuneiform tablet from Uruk includes signs forsheep and the goddess Inanna, but its meaning is unclear.

It is writtenin a script known as proto-cuneiform, a script that did not representsounds or even language at all; signs served as memory aids.