Late Uruk Period, 3500-3100 B.C. A proto-cuneiform pictographic tablet section, showing clear markings and symbols. 8.2 grams, 31 mm (1 1/4 in.). Acquired on the French art market, before 1988. Private deceased estate, passed to heirs, 2010. Private French Collection of C. M., 2015. Proto-cuneiform, the earliest form of writing, was invented in Mesopotamia during the Late Uruk period, about 3200 B.C. Proto-cuneiform consisted of pictographs - simple drawings of the subjects of the documents - and early symbols representing those ideas, drawn or pressed into puffy clay tablets, which were then fired in a hearth or baked in the sun. Most of the known proto-cuneiform tablets are simple accounts documenting the flow ofmodities such as textiles, grain, or dairy products to individuals. These are believed to be summaries of allotments to administrators for later disbursement to others. [No Reserve]