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,
Aš (cuneiform) Aš (cuneiform) [[File:B001ellst.png|437px|left|thumb|Cuneiform sign for aš, dil, ina, ṭel, and as [[sumerogram]] AŠ, (sign uses from the "[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]").]] [[File:Louvres-antiquites-moyen-orient-p1020178.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Amarna letter 362]]-("Reverse"), [[Rib-Hadda]] to Pharaoh, with usage of cuneiform "aš" in the spelling of "šapāru", "to send in writing)" (two locations in letter, line 18 obverse, line 52 reverse). <br>(high resolution, expandible photo) ]] The [[cuneiform]] Aš sign, is found in both the 14th century BC [[Amarna letters]] and the [[Epic of Gilgamesh]]. In the Epic, it has the following meanings, besides "aš": Some special considerations for a single "cuneiform sign" are as follows. In [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]], the space