Why did civilizations like mesopotamia eventually develop a system of writing?
what activities required recordkeeping?
describe the writing system of sumer.
what was the babylonian empire, and what was the purpose of hammurabi's law?
what conclusions may be reached about trade and writing in the mesopotamia civilization?

The earliest writing systems evolved independently and at roughly the same time in Egypt and Mesopotamia, but current scholarship suggests that Mesopotamia’s writing appeared first. That writing system, invented by the Sumerians, emerged in Mesopotamia around 3500 BCE. At first, this writing was representational: a bull might be represented by a picture of a bull, and a pictograph of barley signified the word barley.