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,
Ka (cuneiform) Ka (cuneiform) The cuneiform ka sign is a common, multi-use sign, a syllabic for "ka", and an alphabetic sign used for "k", or "a"; it is common in both the "Epic of Gilgamesh" over hundreds of years, and the 1350 BC Amarna letters. Cuneiform "ka" is nearly identical to a similar 'mid-size' to larger cuneiform sign, ša (cuneiform); because both "ka", and "ša" have two separate specific uses, once these usage sites are identified on a specific Amarna letter, for example, the difference between the two can be followed. Cuneiform "ka" has a secondary use as the pronoun suffix, "-yours".