The Sumerian culture was responsible for creating history’s oldest known written language. Cuneiform writing was invented by Sumerian writers in Uruk, as a method of transaction records by making wedge-shaped dents in clay tablets with a reed stylus. Subsequent scribes would also carve cuneiform into various stone artifacts. Various combinations of these markings signified syllables, which could then be combined to make words. Cuneiform has survived as a strong writing tradition for almost 3,000 years. In addition to Sumerian, the script was employed by scribes from many civilizations throughout that period to record a variety of other languages that served as the common tongue of the Babylonian and Assyrian Empires.