That in its origin this form of writing had some connection with that employed and, so far as we know, invented by the ancient Sumerians is possible.* But it shows small trace of Sumerian influence, and the disparity in the two systems of numeration is a clear indication that, at any rate, it broke off and was isolated from the latter at a very early period.  Having once been adopted by the early Elamites, it continued to be used by them for long periods with but small change or modification.  Employed far from the centre of Sumerian civilization, its development was slow, and it seems to have remained in its ideographic state, while the system employed by the Sumerians, and adopted by the Semitic Babylonians, was developed along syllabic lines.

* It is, of course, also possible that the system of writing had no connection in its origin with that of the Sumerians, and was invented independently of the system employed in Babylonia.  In that case, the signs which resemble certain of the Sumerian characters must have been adopted in a later stage of its development.  Though it would be rash to dogmatize on the subject, the view that connects its origin with the Sumerians appears on the whole to fit in best with the evidence at present available.

It was without doubt this proto-Elamite system of writing which the Semites from Babylonia found employed in Elam on their first incursions into that country.  They brought with them their own more convenient form of writing, and, when the country had once been finally subdued, the subject Elamite princes adopted the foreign system of writing and language from their conquerors for memorial and monumental inscriptions.  But the ancient native writing was not entirely ousted, and continued to be employed by the common people of Elam for the ordinary purposes of daily life.  That this was the case at least until the reign of Karibu-sha-Shu-shinak, one of the early subject native rulers, is clear from one of his inscriptions engraved upon a block of limestone to commemorate the dedication of what were probably some temple furnishings in honour of the god Shu-shinak.

[Illustration:  233.jpg BLOCK OF LIMESTONE, FOUND AT SUSA, BEARING INSCRIPTIONS OF KARIBU-SHA-SHUSHINAK.]

     The photograph is taken from M. de Morgan’s Delegation en
     Perse, Mem., t. vi, pi. 2.

The main part of the inscription is written in Semitic Babylonian, and below there is an addition to the text written in proto-Elamite characters, probably enumerating the offerings which the Karibu-sha-Shushinak decreed should be made for the future in honour of the god.* In course of time this proto-Elamite system of writing by means of ideographs seems to have died out, and a modified form of the Babylonian system was adopted by the Elamites for writing their own language phonetically.  It is in this phonetic character that the so-called “Anzanite” texts of the later Elamite princes were composed.