Egyptian hieroglyphics were used for writing the Egyptian language from about 3000 BC until 400 AD. Symbols resembling hieroglyphs had been used by artisans in the region since 4000 BC, but with no ascertainable linguistic content. The first hieroglyphs were used for making inscriptions on buildings and tombs. Later they came to be used to decorate jewelry, record events on papyrus and to put a royal or divine signature, called a cartouche on an item. The Egyptian hieroglyphic system of writing consisted of both phonetic symbols and pictographs. There were about 30 symbols representing single consonants, plus about 130 bilateral and trilateral symbols which represented two or three consonants. For example, the heart-with-trachea symbol represented the consonants n + f + r, pronounced nefer. Some symbols were used as phonetic complements, which reinforced the final consonant in a bi- or trilateral symbol. Vowels were not written. Pictograms were symbols which visually resembled the item or concept they represented. In total there were an estimated 7000 pictograms, but these were not all in use at the same time.