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
Ni (cuneiform) Ni (cuneiform) The cuneiform sign ni, is a common-use sign of the Amarna letters, the "Epic of Gilgamesh," and other cuneiform texts. It has a secondary sub-use in the Amarna letters for addressing the Pharaoh, from the vassal states of Canaan. The address to the Pharaoh is often 'King-Lord-Mine': "LUGAL, EN-ia" which has many varieties of expression. "LUGAL" is Akkadian language for "Šarru", English "king", and "EN" in Akkadian is "bēlu", for "Lord", (thus "King, Lord-Mine"). In some Amarna letters the sub-use of "ni" is "lí", for spelling "bēlu", "be-lí" often . There are other sub-uses of "ni" (see "Epic