The first hieroglyphic writing shows up around 3300 BC and seems to have emerged from the preliterate artistic traditions of Egypt. Some Gerzean pottery from about 4000 BC contains symbols resembling hieroglyphic writing. Hieroglyphs are written in rows and columns and can be read from left to right or right to left, depending on the direction the figures depicted are facing.
Sumerian cuneiform appears at about the same time in history rising out of ancient Mesopotamia. Cuneiforms were written on clay tablets with a blunt reed called a stylus. Like Egyptian hieroglyphs, cuneiform was written in both rows and columns although cuneiform was only written from left to right.
To date, no historical relationship has been discovered between the two writing systems. In other words, hieroglyphs did not evolve from cuneiform and vice versa, nor did they develop from the same source.
Sumerian cuneiform appears at about the same time in history rising out of ancient Mesopotamia. Cuneiforms were written on clay tablets with a blunt reed called a stylus. Like Egyptian hieroglyphs, cuneiform was written in both rows and columns although cuneiform was only written from left to right.
To date, no historical relationship has been discovered between the two writing systems. In other words, hieroglyphs did not evolve from cuneiform and vice versa, nor did they develop from the same source.
