Cuneiform stylus or incised in stone. This early style lacked the characteristic wedge shape of the strokes. Certain signs to indicate names of gods, countries, cities, vessels, birds, trees, etc., are known as determinatives and were the Sumerian signs of the terms in question, added as a guide for the reader. Proper names continued to be usually written in purely "logographic" fashion. The earliest known Sumerian king whose name appears on contemporary cuneiform tablets is Enmebaragesi of Kish. Surviving records only very gradually become less fragmentary and more complete for the following reigns, but by the end of the pre-Sargonic period,
Ri (cuneiform) Ri (cuneiform) [[File:B142ellst.png|437px|left|thumb|Cuneiform sign for ri, re, dal, tal, ṭal, and as [[sumerogram]] RI, (sign uses from the "[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]").]] [[File:Amarna letter mp3h8878.jpg|thumb|right|315px|[[Amarna letter EA 365]]-("Reverse"), [[Biridiya]] to Pharaoh, ""Furnishing [[Corvée]] Workers"", with usage of cuneiform re in the spelling of "erēsu", "to cultivate" ([[te (cuneiform)|te]]-[[ir (cuneiform)|er]]-ri-šu-[[na (cuneiform)|na]]), 3rd character, 6th line from top (line 365:20). <br>(high resolution, expandible photo)]] The [[cuneiform]] Ri sign, or Re, is found in both the 14th-century BC [[Amarna letters]] and the "[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]"; it is in the top 25 most used cuneiform signs (Buccellati, 1979) for "ri", or "re", but has other