Three early civilizations. a young boy takes his place in a row of school benches. the time is about 5, 000 years ago, and a school day is beginning. the boy picks up a writing tablet that is made of a clay. he looks at the lesson that his teacher has prepared. the boys uses a pointed stick to copy symbols onto the tablet. you are now in the classroom in 2011. pens, pencils, and paper have replaced sticks and clay tablets. today we learn about our past from books, journals, diaries, letters. we learn about our times from newspapers and magazines. what is the link between you and the boy in ancient times? what makes it possible to read about a student in 3, 000 b.c. and about the last match of your favourite team? writing is what makes it possible. many historians believe that the sumerians developed the first system of writing. the student who marked his tablet ages ago belonged to the civilization that gave us the art of writing. sumerians, egyptians and phoenicians were the three ancient peoples that were the first to live in cities; to set up governments to share their ideas in writing. what civilization did use writing first? a. the sumerians b. the phoenicians c. the egyptians