The earliest surviving evidence of writing was not baked in antiquity, just dried clay. Some have been baked in the 19th century for preservation. Some of the c

The earliest surviving evidence of writing was not baked in antiquity, just dried clay. Some have been baked in the 19th century for preservation. Some of the clay tablets have indeed survived presumably due to fires that burned the building in which they were stored - there is even some evidence of unsent letters found in ruins with signs of burning. But the reason we have very ancient evidence of writing is categorically not because they were baked in ancient times.