Papyrus is the name of both the writing and the plant used to make the material of the papyrus paper. The oldest written preserved papyrus is the Diary of Merer which was written over 4,500 years ago. Papyrus was used until the 11th century, even as paper became more popular.
Photo by Helen Sharp, Conservator: Pictorial Art
© 2023 The Trustees of the British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
As early as 3200 B.C. Sumerian scribes (writing in Cuneiform) used clay tablets to record transactions. Cuneiform is the oldest form of writing that we know of. Some of the first literature ever written was in Cuneiform, most notably, the Epic of Gilgamesh. Cuneiform was replaced by alphabetic in the first century AD.
“File:Cuneiform tablet- account of expenditures, record of deliveries of animals for the festival of sowing seed MET hb11 217 29a.jpg” is marked with CC0 1.0.
The Diamond Sutra is the oldest printed book in history dating back to around 1041-1048 AD in the Song Dynasty. The 17-foot-long scroll contains Sanskrit text translated into Chinese of Mahayana Buddhist sutras, which are believed to be dictated directly by the Buddha. Block printing was used to create The Diamond Sutra
“File:Diamond Sutra of 868 AD – The Diamond Sutra (868), frontispiece and text – BL Or. 8210-P.2.jpg” is marked with CC0 1.0.
