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Writing and Language
The cuneiform writing system is both the earliest writing system and among the longest in use in human history. Although conventionally dated to 3200 BCE, radiocarbon dates seem to be moving the earliest form of the cuneiform script, known as Proto-cuneiform, even earlier in time. Perhaps a century after the initial formation of Proto-cuneiform, the innovation spread to administrative centers in Iran in a form of writing known as Proto-Elamite. As part of an ongoing effort at CDLI, to make the text-artifactual record of cuneiform in all its phases easily available through the Internet, CDLI has put a number of well-known lists on-line as well as a basic description of Sumerian grammar (a Better Sumerian Grammar) and a preliminary list of words (ordered by frequency occurrence) in the Ur III corpus (III lemmata lists).