Book 26, Question 51
Who invented the wheel, and why was it such a big deal?
Nobody knows who invented the wheel.
Wheels were used in Mesopotamia and in Europe about 5,500 years ago, for pottery and soon after for carts. The oldest wheel found so far, from Slovenia, is about 5,150 years old. Before that, people used sleds and log rollers. A wheel that turns on a fixed axle must be round and fit snugly, which is hard to make. It changed travel and farming forever.