rEasta
dlo
gafterSumeria
ceasedtobespoke
theBabylo
ia
sa
dAssyria
sa
dotherskeptitaliveasaliteraryla
guagethewayEuropea
skeptLati
aliveafterthefallofRome■Forthescribesofthese
o
Sumeria
la
guagestrai
i
gwasdoublydema
di
gsi
cetheyhadtok
owthevaluesofthevariouscu
eiformsig
sforSumeria
aswellasfortheirow
la
guage■
fTheco
te
tsoftheearliestclaytabletsaresimple
otatio
sof
umbersofcommoditiesa
imalsjarsbasketsetcWriti
gitwouldappearstartedasaprimitiveformofbookkeepi
gItsusesoo
wide
edtodocume
tthemultitudi
ousthi
gsa
dactsthatarei
volvedi
dailylifefromsimplei
ve
toriesofcommoditiestocomplicatedgover
me
talrulesa
dregulatio
sArchaeologistsfreque
tlyfi
dclaytabletsi
batchesThebatchessomeofwhichco
tai
thousa
dsoftabletsco
sistforthemostpartofdocume
tsofthetypesjustme
tio
edbillsdeliveriesreceiptsi
ve
toriesloa
smarriageco
tractsdivorcesettleme
tscourtjudgme
tsa
dsoo
Theserecordsoffactualmatterswerekepti
storagetobeavailableforrefere
cetheywerei
effectfilesortousethetermpreferredbyspecialistsi
thea
cie
tNearEastarchivesNowa
dthe
thesefilesi
cludepiecesofwriti
gthatareofadisti
ctlydiffere
torderwriti
gsthatdo
otmerelyrecordsomematteroffactbuti
volvecreativei
tellectualactivityTheyra
gefromsimpletextbookmaterialtoliteraturea
dtheymakea
appeara
ceveryearlyeve
fromthethirdmille
iumBCE1Theword“key”i
thepassageisclosesti
mea
i
gtoOfreque
tOesse
tialOorigi
alOfamiliar2Theword“virtue”i
thepassageisclosesti
mea
i
gto
fOpriceOdesig
OdesirablequalityOphysicalcharacteristic3Whichofthese
te
cesbelowbestexpressestheesse
tiali
formatio
I
thehighlightedse
te
cei
thepassageI
correctchoicescha
gethemea
i
gi
importa
twaysorleaveoutesse
tiali
formatio
OI
partbecauseofitslowcosta
deaseofuseclaybecamethepreferredwriti
gmaterialthroughoutMesopotamiaa
dwellbeyo
ditOClaywascheapthroughoutMesopotamiasoclaytabletsfromMesopotamiabecamethepreferredwriti
gmaterialasfarastheMediterra
ea
OForawhilethedaytabletwasthepreferredwriti
gmateriali
Cretea
dGreeceOMoreoverbecausedaywasusedasthewriti
gmaterialofchoicei
MesopotamiaSyriaAsiaMi
orPersiaa
dtheMediterra
ea
itwascheapa
dpopular4Whatca
bei
ferredfromparagraph2aboutclayasawriti
gmaterialOIthadtobebakedbeforeitcouldbewritte
o
OItsgoodpoi
tsoutweigheditsbadpoi
tsOItsdurabilitywasitsmostimporta
tfeatureforitsusersOItwas
otavailablei
Egypt5I
paragraph2whydoestheauthordiscusstheEgyptia
useofpapyrusasawriti
gmaterial
fOTodescribethesuperiofityofpapyrusoverleattiera
dwoodasawriti
r