Hans Jörg Nissen

Sumerian is the first written language. Writing was developed at the end of the fourth millenium B.C. by a mixed language group in which Sumerian was the main component. For centuries, writing was hardly ever used except for recording economic procedings, until it was finally used to make short votive inscriptions. In the middle of the third millenium B.C. owing to changes in the system of writing, it evolved into an instrument that made possible the reproductionn of complicated texts...[14].