1. Early Writing Systems: Writing systems in Mesopotamia, where cuneiform originated, evolved over a long period of time. The earliest forms of proto-cuneiform symbols or pictographs date back to around the late 4th millennium BC (approximately 3500-3200 BC) in the region known as Sumer.
2. Early Cuneiform: The development of true cuneiform with wedge-shaped characters occurred gradually. The earliest known examples of cuneiform writing are found on clay tablets from Uruk IV and Jemdet Nasr periods (approximately 3300-3000 BC). These early tablets contain simplified pictographic symbols and proto-cuneiform characters, which eventually developed into the more complex cuneiform script.
3. Sumerian Cuneiform: The Sumerians, who inhabited ancient Mesopotamia, played a significant role in the development of cuneiform. By around 2900 BC, cuneiform had fully emerged as a mature writing system, primarily used for administrative purposes by the Sumerians to record economic transactions, laws, religious texts, and literary compositions.
Therefore, while there is evidence for proto-cuneiform symbols dating back to the 4th millennium BC, the fully developed cuneiform script as we know it emerged in the late 3rd millennium BC, predominantly in the Sumerian civilization. It spread and became widely used throughout the ancient Middle East and beyond, serving as a crucial means of communication and record-keeping for various civilizations over thousands of years.