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
Ab (cuneiform) Ab (cuneiform) The cuneiform ab, and ap sign, (in the Akkadian language world, 'b' is unaspirated, formed with the lips, and 'p' is "aspirated"-(aspirated consonant, with the breath)) is the cuneiform sign used for the syllables "ab", or "ap", or the vowel and consonant usages of a, b, or p. In the Akkadian language b-and-p are interchangeable; also in cuneiform texts, any vowel of the "a, e, i, u" (no "o" in Akkadian) can be interchanged with another. Also for the 'ab/ap' sign, there is a capital letter (majuscule) usage as a sumerogram, found in the "Epic of Gilgamesh" for