Administrative tablet of clay, Mesopotamian/Sumerian, 3100-2900 BC.

Administrative tablet of clay, Mesopotamian/Sumerian, 3100-2900 BC. The earliest tablets with written inscriptions represent the work of administrators, perhaps of large temple institutions, recording the allocation of rations or the movement and storage of goods. The pictographs were inscribed into the tablet with a sharp instrument. From the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California, USA. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)