This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Learning About The Past: Historians study history On this clay tablet, pictographs from Mesopotamia show a record of food supplies. Experts believe that this tablet is over 5,000 years old. It is currently on display at the British Museum in London, England. Photo from: Prisma/UIG via Getty Images. How do we learn about the past? Scientists and other experts have different ways of figuring out what life was like hundreds and even thousands of years ago. The study of history helps humans understand who we were and who we are today. Experts use imagination, shared knowledge and hard work to put together the puzzle pieces of history. Some of these experts are historians. Historians learn about and write about the past. They gather information from books, letters and artifacts, and use it to piece together the story of our history. When did history begin? Some people might say there wasn't any history before 3000 B.C., which was 5,000 years ago. Sumerians Invented First Writing System By USHistory.org, adapted by Newsela staff on 03.23.17 Word Count 839 Level 820L This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. In a way, that is true. Historians mostly rely on written papers, like books and letters, to reconstruct the past. Before 3000 B.C., there was no writing, as far as we know. Events earlier than this time are referred to as "pre-history," which means before written history. The Sumerians, who lived in Mesopotamia 6,000 years ago, invented the first writing system. At first they used pictographs, pictures drawn on wet clay, to represent words. A picture of a bird would represent the word "mushen," which means "bird." A picture of a fish would represent the word "ha," which means fish. Patterns Of Pictures And Lots Of Lists The Sumerians quickly discovered how to write new words by joining pictures together. Eventually, the pictures evolved into patterns. The patterns were made by a wedge- shaped stylus, or writing tool. This new type of writing was called cuneiform writing. The name comes from the Latin word "cuneus," which means "wedge." What did the Sumerians write? They mainly wrote lists. They made lists of people, possessions, goods to trade and amounts of food. They kept records of important dates, deeds of sale, and tax returns. Most of the clay tablets recovered so far deal with these types of matters. Some tablets, however, feature poems and stories — the world's first literature. Scientists have also found a Sumerian guide to farming and recipes for Sumerian dishes. One recipe, written around 1700 B.C., is for "Tuhu Beets." The instructions say, boil beets with onions in beer, add herbs and mush everything together. Then sprinkle with raw onion. The Sumerians did not write history to explain how the past happened. They believed their society had been there since the universe began, and that it had been planned by the gods. Herodotus Was First Historian Herodotus is often credited as the first historian. He was born around 484 B.C. and lived in Greece. Herodotus was a trader and storyteller who traveled widely. He engaged with everyone he met. "My business is to record what people say," he said, "but I am by no means bound to believe it." Herodotus wrote an account of the war between the Persians and Greeks. He also wrote about more ordinary experiences. For example, he wrote this advice for dealing with tiny bugs called gnats: This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. "Everyone provides himself with a net, which during the day he uses for fishing, and at night fixes up around his bed, and creeps in under it before he goes to sleep." Herodotus claimed a modest goal for his work: "that the doings of men may not be forgotten." On the title page of his writings, he wrote the word "Historia," which is Greek for "inquiries" or "researches." Inquiring into the past has been called history ever since. Volcano Vesuvius Lasts 18 Hours! Pliny the Younger was a historian in ancient Rome. He described the eruption of the volcano Vesuvius in A.D. 79. He was just 17 years old when the volcano exploded. He wrote that the event lasted about 18 hours. There was a cloud shaped like "a pine tree" — a thick column of hot gas, rock and ash, which shot up 20 miles up into the sky. After about 12 hours, the column collapsed. A cloud of hot ash hurled down Vesuvius' western slope at 100 miles per hour. Within four minutes it reached Herculaneum, the Roman town that sat at the base of Vesuvius. The ash blasted buildings and burned or suffocated the people. A second cloud of ash devastated Pompeii. Pliny's account has helped modern volcanologists reconstruct the event. These volcano experts know Vesuvius will erupt again in the future.