Cuneiform to left-to-right in horizontal rows (rotating all of the pictographs 90° counter-clockwise in the process) and a new wedge-tipped stylus was introduced which was pushed into the clay, producing wedge-shaped ("cuneiform") signs; these two developments made writing quicker and easier. By adjusting the relative position of the tablet to the stylus, the writer could use a single tool to make a variety of impressions. Cuneiform tablets could be fired in kilns to bake them hard, and so provide a permanent record, or they could be left moist and recycled, if permanence was not needed. Many of the clay tablets found
Zu (cuneiform) Zu (cuneiform) Cuneiform zu, (also sú, ṣú, and sumerogram ZU (capital letter majuscule)), is an uncommon-use sign in the 1350s BC Amarna letters, the "Epic of Gilgamesh", and other cuneiform texts. Alphabetically, it could conceivably be used for letters "z", "s", "ṣ", or "u"; however in the Amarna letters it is used mostly for "personal names" or "geographical names". In the "Epic of Gilgamesh", sumerogram "ZU", is used to spell the name of god Ninazu, (a name of god Tammuz, two times, Chapter XII, 28, 47). In the "Epic", "ZU" is also used as a logogram, "ZU.AB", for Akkadian language