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It is impossible to imagine modern life without the impact of the wheel
It is impossible to imagine modern life without the impact of the wheel

Who invented the wheel?

One expression in contemporary spoken English that fascinates me is the one that goes like this: “you don’t have to re-invent the wheel”. It is used when emphasis is being made on the need to come up with innovative solutions when faced with problems or challenges, rather than re-packaging existing ones as new tools not seen previously.

The expression is also used to encourage one to find out how others have dealt with similar situations and take it from there, rather than attempting to invent already-existing and time-tested solutions.

This week, we take a step back to explore this expression from a historical and automotive view, to discover how exactly the idea came about for mankind to move around faster and farther through the use of these round things known as wheels.

Historical evidence suggests that the first wheel dates back to 3500 B.C., according to the Smithsonian Magazine.

Researchers believe that the wheel first came into existence in the area of Mesopotamia, in what is today modern Iraq.

Archaeological evidence further indicates that early wheels were used for pottery, not for transporting goods or people.

Some experts believe that as many as 300 years passed between when the first wheel was created and when people got around to using them to make chariots.

Historically speaking, wheels are therefore, a much newer development than you might expect. The oldest recovered specimen is a wooden Slovenian model built about 5,000 years ago.

By then, humans had already been practicing agriculture for several millennia – farming may in fact date all the way back to 12,000 BC. Canoes and animal domestication also vastly predate the wheel.

So then, why did it take so long for this invention to get rolling? From a vehicular standpoint, spinning wheels are basically useless unless they are attached to a secure shaft of some sort.

It was only after mankind finally built such stabilisers—which we now call “axles”—that the wheel began realising its full potential, marking the birth of an important piece of modern transportation.

The wheel-and-axle concept was the real stroke of brilliance, and that idea required extreme finesse, which only metal tools could adequately provide. However, these didn’t become widespread until around 2000 BC, hence our delay.

Ultimately, it’s possible that many groups independently invented the wheel. Ancient Mesoamericans, for example, also produced little wheeled figurines despite having no known contact with their old world counterparts.

It is, therefore, impractical to attempt naming a particular individual as the inventor of the wheel.

The entire western hemisphere however suffered from a near-total lack of domestication-ready animals capable of pulling carts. Thus, full-sized wheels don’t appear to have become popular on American continent before overseas invaders started showing up.

Today, it is extremely difficult, impossible perhaps, to imagine life and modern civilization minus the pervasive impact of the wheel.

It is fair to say that when an advertisement describes a fascinating modern tool as “the best invention since the wheel,” that we have indeed begun to take our round, load-bearing companion for granted. Here are some intriguing, little-known facts about the wheel.

No wheels exist in nature. Throughout human history, most inventions have been inspired by the natural world.

The idea for the pitchfork and table fork came from forked sticks; that of the airplane from gliding birds. But the wheel is a 100 per cent human innovation, not inspired or predated by any other natural phenomenon.

The wheel was a relative latecomer. We tend to think that inventing the wheel was item number two on mankind’s to-do list after learning to walk upright. But several significant inventions predated the wheel by thousands of years: sewing needles, woven cloth, rope, basket weaving, boats and even the flute.

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