Hay Festival: Learn to Write in Cuneiform, the World’s First Writing System

Learn to Write in Cuneiform, the World’s First Writing System

Thursday 28 May 2026, 4pm – Creative Hub

Abandon your Biro and learn all about the world’s oldest writing, invented in Mesopotamia five thousand years ago. Mesopotamia expert Dr Selena Wisnom will demonstrate how simple pictograms evolved into a complex writing system with nearly a thousand signs, and how it was deciphered after two millennia of silence. She’ll show you how to make your own cuneiform tablet out of plasticine and impress the signs into it just like the Mesopotamians did. You can write your name in this ancient script, and take home a piece of history.

www.hayfestival.com

The Mesopotamia expert demonstrates how the world’s oldest writing system evolved, and shows how to write it yourself.