The origin of typographical ligatures comes from the invention of writing with a stylus on paper, other fibrous material, or clay. Merchants especially needed a way to speed up the process of written communication found that conjoining letters and abbreviating words for lay use was more convenient for record keeping and transaction than the bulky long forms. The earliest known script, Sumerian cuneiform, includes many cases of character combinations that, over time, gradually evolve from ligatures into separately recognizable characters. Ligatures figure prominently in many historical manuscripts, notably the Brahmic abugidas, or the bind rune of the Migration Period Germanic runic inscriptions. Some ligatures can also be seen in Egyptian papyri (hieratic script).