Cuneiform was the writing system used in Mesopotamia, where pictographs carved into clay tablets with a stylus evolved into simplified wedge-shaped symbols. It was used to record daily events, trade, astronomy, and literature. Over time, as the script spread and was adapted to other languages, it grew more abstract until someone in Ugarit invented the first alphabet with one symbol per sound, revolutionizing writing.

1. T
I
N
Writing
in
G
Y
I
Mesopotamia

2. Cuneiform meaning “wedged shapes”, is the
Sumerian writing system. Cuneiform was used to
record and communicate different types of
information, they recorded daily events, trade,
astronomy and literature. Before cuneiform, the
writings on these tablets were simple pictures, or
pictograms, which represent an object or an idea. But
because clay is a difficult material to draw lines and
curves on, the pictures eventually became fairly
standardized linear drawings that made recording for
the Mesopotamians a lot simpler. They came to have
Mesopotamian Cuneiform
wedged shaped appearance because they were
stylus
pressed into soft clay tablets with the slanted edge of
a stylus.

3. The Ending Of Cuneiform
This trend increased as the script was modified and distributed
to even more places around Mesopotamia. When the Hittites
and Old Persians got hold of it, the script was being used for
Indo-European languages as well. Finally, someone in Ugarit
got fed up with the whole thing, so he/she decided to invent
an "alphabet" of sorts ,with one symbol per sound. (This
revolution in writing wasn't discovered in Sumerian times.)

4. Resources
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Sumerian/Grammar/Lesson_Nine_-_Cuneiform
http://mesopotamia.lib.uchicago.edu/mesopotamialife/article.php?theme
=Invention%20of%20Writing
http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/writing/home_set.html
http://www.mrdowling.com/603-writing.html
http://history-world.org/cuneiform_writing.htm