The civilization closely associated with cuneiform writing is which of the following?

• A. Ancient Egypt
• B. Indus Valley
• C. Ancient China
• D. Mesopotamia

Answer: (D)

Cuneiform is one of the earliest writing systems, created in Mesopotamia by the Sumerians around 3400–3000 BCE. It began as pictographs on clay and evolved into wedge-shaped symbols pressed into damp clay with a stylus, which is how it got its name. This script was used across Mesopotamian cultures—Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyrians—for a wide range of records, laws, and literature. In contrast, ancient Egypt used hieroglyphs, the Indus Valley Civilization left an undeciphered script, and ancient China developed early writing on oracle bones before evolving its own script. So, the civilization most closely associated with cuneiform is Mesopotamia.