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,
Ne (cuneiform) Ne (cuneiform) [[File:B313ellst.png|437px|left|thumb|Cuneiform sign for bil-(=bí), kúm, ne, pil, ṭè, and as [[sumerogram]]s BIL, and NE, (sign uses from the "[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]").]] [[File:BM 29785 EA 9 Reverse.jpg|thumb|right|315px|[[Amarna letter EA 9]]-("Reverse"), [[Tushratta]] to Pharaoh, with usage of cuneiform "bil" in the spelling of "qabû", "to say, tell", Paragraph 1 (tablet obverse). <br>(high resolution, expandible photo, and last line, 3rd sign from left — [[bi (cuneiform)|bi]]), a common multi-use, multi-syllabic sign]] The [[cuneiform]] Ne sign, is found in both the 14th century BC [[Amarna letters]] and the "[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]". In the Amarna letters, it is especially used in the opening,