Editing Clay tablet (section)

==History by region==

===Babylonia===

Fragments of tablets containing the ''[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]'' dating to 1800–1600 BCE have been discovered. A full version has been found on tablets dated to the 1st millennium BCE.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kovacs |first1=transl., with an introd. by Maureen Gallery |title=The epic of Gilgamesh |date=2004 |publisher=Stanford Univ. Press |location=Stanford, Calif. |isbn=978-0804717113 |pages=xxi–xxii |edition=Nachdr.}}</ref>

Tablets on [[Babylonian astronomy|Babylonian astronomical records]] (such as [[Enuma Anu Enlil]] and [[MUL.APIN]]) date back to around 1800 BCE. Tablets discussing astronomical records continue through around 75 CE.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Thurston |first1=Hugh |title=Early astronomy |date=1996 |publisher=Springer |location=New York |isbn=978-0387948225 |pages=64–81 |edition= Springer study}}</ref>

Late Babylonian tablets at the [[British Museum]] refer to appearances of [[Halley's Comet]] in 164 BCE and 87 BCE.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stephenson |first1=F. R. |last2=Yau |first2=K. K. C. |last3=Hunger |first3=H. |title=Records of Halley's comet on Babylonian tablets |journal=Nature |date=April 1985 |volume=314 |issue=6012 |pages=587–592 |doi=10.1038/314587a0 |bibcode=1985Natur.314..587S |s2cid=33251962 |language=En |issn=0028-0836}}</ref>