Making a cuneiform tablet

Click through to see some tablets made using the method below, as well as their Babylonian originals.
Using the stylus

Press the stylus into the clay horizontally and vertically to make marks.
Use your chart of syllables to put together some words.
Can you tell the difference between this and the next couple of (original Babylonian) tablets?
Tablet showing schoolwork
An ancient Babylonian schoolboy struggled to copy this proverb from
his teacher.
Tablet recording gold
This tablet records a delivery of gold to the temple of Marduk, the chief god
of Babylonia.

You will need:

A golf-ball sized lump of air-drying clay
A lolly-stick for a stylus
Our cuneiform symbols chart (pdf download)

Cuneiform tablet

Cuneiform is one of the oldest forms of writing known, and was used in ancient Mesopotamia. It means ‘wedge-shaped’, because people wrote it using a reed stylus cut to make a wedge-shaped mark on a clay tablet.

How to make

1. Roll the lump of clay into a ball, then flatten it with your hand until it is about 2cm thick. Smooth the top into a flat surface for writing on.

2. Cut across the end of the lolly stick to make a straight end for wedge-shaped writing.

3.Download our syllable chart to see the main signs. Copy these by pressing the lolly stick into the clay. Cuneiform was written across the tablet from left to right, like our writing now. Follow the links below to see some original cuneiform tablets for inspiration.

4. Give your tablet and the chart to a friend and see if they can work out what it says.

Look at some original cuneiform tablets on Explore:
Tablet showing schoolwork
Tablet recording delivery of gold

Made your own cuneiform tablet?
Send us photos of your work