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Cuneiform

The centuries of struggle to decode the world's oldest script

"I will proclaim the deeds of Gilgamesh!" The epic of Gilgamesh is the world's oldest story written in the world's oldest script, cuneiform - wedge shaped marks pressed into clay with a reed.

"It looks as if little birds have gone out on the seashore after the tide's gone out," says calligrapher Margaret Prasthofer.

So how was this remarkable script decoded?

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14 minutes

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This programme was restored as part of the World Service archive project