Jim McMahon
The wheel is often said to be humanity’s greatest invention, but the wheel alone isn’t what transformed the world. For a wheel to help people move objects using less force, it needs an axle, or a stationary pole, to turn on.
It was likely the people of ancient Mesopotamia—a historical region that includes present-day Iraq and parts of Iran, Kuwait, Syria, and Turkey—who thought of putting the two together. A more than 5,500-year-old potter’s wheel found there suggests that Sumerians, who occupied the region from 4100 to 1750 B.C., had a handle on wheel and axle mechanics. Other modes of wheeled transport in the form of carts and wagons eventually followed.
“Most assume that the earliest wagons were invented in Mesopotamia, which was urban and therefore more sophisticated than the tribal societies of Europe [at the time],” writes anthropologist David Anthony in his book The Horse, the Wheel, and Language. Still, he notes, there’s evidence that multiple cultures had similar ideas around the same period.
The ability to move heavy stuff on wheels was a game-changer for civilization. Previously, it might have taken a whole village to lug stones, lumber, or crops across land. But wheeled transport reduced people’s dependence on group labor to get things built, allowing societies to spread out. Single-family farms sprouted up, and trade expanded as people were able to carry large quantities of goods long distances on carts and wagons.
The wheel is often said to be humanity’s greatest invention. But the wheel alone isn’t what transformed the world. For a wheel to help people move objects using less force, it needs an axle, or a stationary pole, to turn on.
It was likely the people of ancient Mesopotamia who thought of putting the two together. The historical region includes present-day Iraq and parts of Iran, Kuwait, Syria, and Turkey. Sumerians occupied the region from 4100 to 1750 b.c. A more than 5,500-year-old potter’s wheel found there suggests that they had a handle on wheel and axle mechanics. Other modes of wheeled transport in the form of carts and wagons eventually followed.
“Most assume that the earliest wagons were invented in Mesopotamia, which was urban and therefore more sophisticated than the tribal societies of Europe [at the time],” writes anthropologist David Anthony in his book The Horse, the Wheel, and Language. But, he notes, there’s proof that several cultures had similar ideas around the same period.
The ability to move heavy stuff on wheels was a game-changer for civilization. Before then, it might have taken a whole village to lug stones, lumber, or crops across land. But wheeled transport meant people depended less on group labor to get things built. That allowed societies to spread out. Single-family farms popped up. And trade stretched further as people were able to carry large amounts of goods long distances on carts and wagons.