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
Diš (cuneiform) the "large-angled-stroke", type 2; (the long stroke of the sign is slightly, or majorly, foreshortened. In the Amarna letters, often down to 50 % of the "full stroke".). The high quality photo of EA 364, line 8, shows the length about 3/4 of a full stroke-length. The "ana", ("diš") sign usage in the "Epic of Gilgamesh" is as follows: "ana"-(151 times); "diš"-(6); "tiš"-(6); and 1-(87 times). Diš (cuneiform) The cuneiform sign has many uses in cuneiform texts. In the Amarna letters it is commonly used to denote "Male individuals". (Women are denoted by sal (cuneiform), . ) The sign is