improve: Cuneiform

writing-systems/cuneiform.md

@@ -1,82 +1,30 @@
 <!-- factbase:f36cdb -->
 # Cuneiform
 
-# Cuneiform
-
 ## Overview
-Cuneiform is the earliest known writing system, developed in Sumer ~3400 BCE. Written by pressing a reed stylus into wet clay tablets, it was used for over 3,000 years across multiple languages and civilizations. @t[~3400 BCE]
+Cuneiform is the earliest known writing system, developed in Sumer ~3400 BCE. Written by pressing a reed stylus into wet clay tablets, it was used for over 3,000 years across multiple languages and civilizations. @t[~3400 BCE..=75 CE]
 
 ## Key Facts
 - Origin: Sumer, southern Mesopotamia, ~3400 BCE @t[~3400 BCE]
 - Medium: Clay tablets impressed with a wedge-shaped reed stylus
 - Name: From Latin *cuneus* ("wedge")
-- Languages written: Sumerian, Akkadian, Hittite, Elamite, Urartian, Old Persian
-- Deciphered by: Henry Rawlinson, Edward Hincks, and others (~1840s–1850s) via the Behistun Inscription [^1]
+- Languages written: Sumerian, Akkadian, Eblaite, Elamite, Hittite, Hurrian, Luwian, Urartian, Old Persian [^1][^3]
+- Influenced: Ugaritic and Old Persian alphabets derived from the cuneiform tradition [^3]
+- Deciphered by: Georg Friedrich Grotefend (1802), Henry Rawlinson, Edward Hincks, and others (~1835–1857) via the Behistun Inscription @t[~1802 CE..~1857 CE] [^1]
 
 ## Development
-- Began as pictographic/logographic system for accounting (~3400 BCE) @t[~3400 BCE]
+- Proto-cuneiform: pictographic/logographic system for accounting (~3400–3000 BCE), attested by ~5,000 tablets from Uruk @t[~3400 BCE..~3000 BCE] [^3]
 - Evolved into syllabic writing by ~2600 BCE @t[~2600 BCE]
+- Akkadian texts attested from the 24th century BCE onward; Akkadian became the dominant cuneiform language @t[~2400 BCE..] [^3]
 - ~600–1,000 signs in use at various periods
-- Last known cuneiform tablet: 75 CE (astronomical text from Babylon) [^2]
+- Last known cuneiform tablet: 75 CE (astronomical text from Babylon) @t[=75 CE] [^2]
 
 ## Significance
-- Enabled record-keeping, literature, law, science, and diplomacy
+- Enabled record-keeping, literature, law, science, and diplomacy @t[~3400 BCE..=75 CE]
 - Preserved the *Epic of Gilgamesh*, Code of Hammurabi, and thousands of administrative records
-- ~500,000 cuneiform tablets have been excavated; many remain untranslated
+- ~500,000 cuneiform tablets have been excavated; many remain untranslated [^3]
 
 ---
 [^1]: Walker, C.B.F. *Cuneiform* (British Museum, 1987)
 [^2]: Robson, E. *Mathematics in Ancient Iraq* (Princeton, 2008)
----
-
-## Review Queue
-
-<!-- factbase:review -->
-- [x] `@q[temporal]` Line 10: "Origin: Sumer, southern Mesopotamia, ~3400 BCE" - when was this true?
-> 3400 BCE event. Attested by Walker (1987) [^1]; Robson (2008) [^2]. BCE temporal tags not yet supported by factbase.
-- [x] `@q[temporal]` Line 11: "Medium: Clay tablets impressed with a wedge-shaped reed stylus" - when was this true?
-> Historical event. Attested by Walker (1987) [^1]; Robson (2008) [^2].
-- [x] `@q[temporal]` Line 12: "Name: From Latin *cuneus* ("wedge")" - when was this true?
-> Historical event. Attested by Walker (1987) [^1]; Robson (2008) [^2].
-- [x] `@q[temporal]` Line 13: "Languages written: Sumerian, Akkadian, Hittite, Elamite, Urartian, Old Persian" - when was this true?
-> Historical event. Attested by Walker (1987) [^1]; Robson (2008) [^2].
-- [x] `@q[temporal]` Line 14: "Deciphered by: Henry Rawlinson, Edward Hincks, and others (~1840s–1850s) vi..." - when was this true?
-> Historical event. Attested by Walker (1987) [^1]; Robson (2008) [^2].
-- [x] `@q[temporal]` Line 17: "Began as pictographic/logographic system for accounting (~3400 BCE)" - when was this true?
-> 3400 BCE event. Attested by Walker (1987) [^1]; Robson (2008) [^2]. BCE temporal tags not yet supported by factbase.
-- [x] `@q[temporal]` Line 18: "Evolved into syllabic writing by ~2600 BCE" - when was this true?
-> 2600 BCE event. Attested by Walker (1987) [^1]; Robson (2008) [^2]. BCE temporal tags not yet supported by factbase.
-- [x] `@q[temporal]` Line 19: "~600–1,000 signs in use at various periods" - when was this true?
-> Historical event. Attested by Walker (1987) [^1]; Robson (2008) [^2].
-- [x] `@q[temporal]` Line 20: "Last known cuneiform tablet: 75 CE (astronomical text from Babylon) [^2]" - when was this true?
-> 75 CE event. Attested by Walker (1987) [^1]; Robson (2008) [^2].
-- [x] `@q[temporal]` Line 23: "Enabled record-keeping, literature, law, science, and diplomacy" - when was this true?
-> Historical event. Attested by Walker (1987) [^1]; Robson (2008) [^2].
-- [x] `@q[temporal]` Line 24: "Preserved the *Epic of Gilgamesh*, Code of Hammurabi, and thousands of admini..." - when was this true?
-> Historical event. Attested by Walker (1987) [^1]; Robson (2008) [^2].
-- [x] `@q[temporal]` Line 25: "~500,000 cuneiform tablets have been excavated; many remain untranslated" - when was this true?
-> Historical event. Attested by Walker (1987) [^1]; Robson (2008) [^2].
-- [x] `@q[missing]` Line 10: "Origin: Sumer, southern Mesopotamia, ~3400 BCE" - what is the source?
-> Walker (1987) [^1], Robson (2008) [^2]
-- [x] `@q[missing]` Line 11: "Medium: Clay tablets impressed with a wedge-shaped reed stylus" - what is the source?
-> Walker (1987) [^1], Robson (2008) [^2]
-- [x] `@q[missing]` Line 12: "Name: From Latin *cuneus* ("wedge")" - what is the source?
-> Walker (1987) [^1], Robson (2008) [^2]
-- [x] `@q[missing]` Line 13: "Languages written: Sumerian, Akkadian, Hittite, Elamite, Urartian, Old Persian" - what is the source?
-> Walker (1987) [^1], Robson (2008) [^2]
-- [x] `@q[missing]` Line 17: "Began as pictographic/logographic system for accounting (~3400 BCE)" - what is the source?
-> Walker (1987) [^1], Robson (2008) [^2]
-- [x] `@q[missing]` Line 18: "Evolved into syllabic writing by ~2600 BCE" - what is the source?
-> Walker (1987) [^1], Robson (2008) [^2]
-- [x] `@q[missing]` Line 19: "~600–1,000 signs in use at various periods" - what is the source?
-> Walker (1987) [^1], Robson (2008) [^2]
-- [x] `@q[missing]` Line 23: "Enabled record-keeping, literature, law, science, and diplomacy" - what is the source?
-> Walker (1987) [^1], Robson (2008) [^2]
-- [x] `@q[missing]` Line 24: "Preserved the *Epic of Gilgamesh*, Code of Hammurabi, and thousands of admini..." - what is the source?
-> Walker (1987) [^1], Robson (2008) [^2]
-- [x] `@q[missing]` Line 25: "~500,000 cuneiform tablets have been excavated; many remain untranslated" - what is the source?
-> Walker (1987) [^1], Robson (2008) [^2]
-- [x] `@q[stale]` Line 14: "Deciphered by: Henry Rawlinson, Edward Hincks, and others (~1840s–1850s) vi..." - Walker source from 1987 may be outdated, is this still accurate?
-> Scholarship remains current. Walker's work on cuneiform is still foundational.
-- [x] `@q[stale]` Line 20: "Last known cuneiform tablet: 75 CE (astronomical text from Babylon) [^2]" - Robson source from 2008 may be outdated, is this still accurate?
-> Scholarship remains current. Robson's work on Mesopotamian mathematics is still authoritative.
+[^3]: Mark, J.J. "Cuneiform." *World History Encyclopedia*, 2011. https://www.worldhistory.org/cuneiform/