Cuneiform Tablet
Gift of Zenas Crane

A complex network of communication and record keeping led to economic success. The earliest record keeping was 3300 B.C.E. when the people of Mesopotamia, now Iran, created clay squares, called cuneiform tablets. On these tablets, the Mesopotamians inscribed in the first system of words and numbers, recording economic transaction, such as loans, sales and transfers of property.

Oil Lamp
Gift of Zenas Crane

The economies of the ancient civilizations enabled them to innovate in order to make advances in technology and create new objects to meet daily life needs such as lighting. Many homes in the ancient world had simple lighting devices, which would have been filled with oil and burned with a wick in the spout.