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
Ir (cuneiform) or other conjunction meanings), as in Amarna letter EA 362, (Biridiya to Pharaoh). The twelve tablet (I-XII) Epic of Gilgamesh uses the er, and ir signs, 22 and 72 times. In the Epic, there are no other uses for the sign. For the mid 14th century BC Amarna letters, letter EA 365 authored by Biridiya, it is used for "er". For example on the reverse of EA 365, subject of corvee labor, "harvesting"-(line 20), lines 15 and following translate as follows: The verb "cultivating" (harvesting) is from "erēšu", which is from "harāšu", Ugaratic ḥrț. Ir (cuneiform) The cuneiform ir (more