The latest gadget today is tomorrow’s antique. The Invention of the Wheel. They then drilled holes in these pieces so that the axle could easily roll inside them. And while some people may seem content with the story as it stands, our view is that there exists countless mysteries, scientific anomalies and surprising artifacts that have yet to be discovered and explained. Naupa Iglesia: An Egyptian Portal in the Andes? How and why? Norimitsu Odachi: Who Could Have Possibly Wielded This Enormous 15th Century Japanese Sword? about What’s Special About Golan Heights? Although Mesopotamia has the oldest known wheel, linguistic evidence is used to support the claim that the wheel originated in the Eurasian steppes. The runners kept catching on rocks and tree roots and jerking to a stop. Think about how many ways wheels are used today—not just for transportation, but for manufacturing, home appliances and recreation. Ancient Anomalous Human Skeletons: Humanity Could be Much Older Than We Think. If we read from... What's your favourite Fairy Tales (and their possible origins), What’s Behind Increasing Paranormal Activity? Much, much later this land became part of the country we call Iraq. So let me assure you, just because the oldest "wheel" is a few thousand years old, don't let that mean you have to assume those are around when they were invented. Embracing the present. The goal of Ancient Origins is to highlight recent archaeological discoveries, peer-reviewed academic research and evidence, as well as offering alternative viewpoints and explanations of science, archaeology, mythology, religion and history around the globe. Crate Heirloom Seeds From Our Great-Great-Great-Great-Great (and many more!) For instance, camels were a much more efficient form of transportation in the desert environment when compared to the wheel. Take a look around, and you will see wheels everywhere, be it as tyres, or in everyday machinery. Pingback: The Sumerian Culture: The Cradle of Civilization | Lost En Traducción, Pingback: Bon Appetit Wednesday! Once the runners started slipping sideways, it was almost impossible to inch them back into place. Who were the nephilim ? ( Log Out /  They would then place a second log under the front edge of the load and continue rolling it. [Online] Available at: http://inventors.about.com/od/wstartinventions/a/wheel.htm, Gambino, M., 2009. The ends of the axle, as well as the holes in the centre of the wheels had to be nearly perfectly smooth and round. Terrain Photo source . Photo source: Wikipedia. One of the reasons why the wheel was invented only at this point in history is due to the fact that metal tools were needed to chisel fine-fitted holes and axles. ( Log Out /  I have to do a project on Mesopotamia by drawing a commercial and trying to tell others to move to Mesopotamia but I don’t have a single clue on what to draw other than irrigation systems and food. Punic Porridge | AntiquityNOW, Rowan Forge Year 1.5 Fall Term Homeschool Plan | This Craftsman Life, Global Heritage Fund's Heritage on the Wire, National Council for the Social Studies- Connected, Portable Antiquity Collecting and Heritage Issues, Wheels and wheel-shaped parts are used every day. Only the ends were actually needed to prop up the load. It was spun horizontally on an axis to allow the potter to form evenly shaped jars and bowls from wet clay. We’re the only Pop Archaeology site combining scientific research with out-of-the-box perspectives. This leads to the next reason – the wheel was not just a cylinder rolling on its edge. They are first mentioned in chapter 6 of the book of Genesis and then again in Number 13:33. The Sumerians first used circular sections of logs as wheels to carry heavy objects, joining them together and rolling them along. However, others believe it developed independently in separate parts of the world at around the same time. Describe what it would be like to live without any wheels. At present, the birthplace of the wheel is said to be either in Mesopotamia or the Eurasian steppes. Well, why do we use discs for data storage? Our open community is dedicated to digging into the origins of our species on planet earth, and question wherever the discoveries might take us. We seek to retell the story of our beginnings. As a result of this rapid development of technology, we often take things for granted. Ever since, cats have been immortalized in art. Remember the 5,500-year-old wheel for Mesopotamia? The word nephilim appears twice in the Old Testament of the Bible. This was a serious problem when you were transporting something very heavy. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Although the wheel has revolutionised the way early human beings travelled and transported goods from one place to another, the wheel was not a perfect invention. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Plus too, about the caves, they would have been difficult for pregnant woman raising children and not convenient so I think the idea of "cave men" is pretty romanticized. On hillsides and inclines, though, the runners of the sledge kept inching their way off the roller as it moved. Neither of these had thick, straight trunks that could be cut down and made into logs.The Sumerians, however, were very creative and didn’t let that stop them. Just moving the rollers to where they had to be used was an exhausting chore. The Sumerians quickly cut grooves into all their rollers and ended up with a much more efficient wheel. To keep the sledge in place, the Sumerians attached four pegs (two on each side of the sledge). *This post was written by Jinni Bradfield. Even though this device looked nothing like a wheel, it accomplished the purpose of a wheel. Planks [Online] Available at: http://www.livescience.com/18808-invention-wheel.html, I am a university student doing a BA degree in Archaeology. Also, we would not be able to … Would it be harder? It seems that the use of wheels for transportation only happened 300 years later. Education Topic Matrix: All content arranged by topic, Southeast and East Asia (not including China), Western, Northern and Southern Europe (not including the British Isles), LegacyQuest International Children’s Film and Video Festival, KIDS’ BLOG! But there's not. List as many devices as you can think of that we use today that depend on the wheel. Boggling Bannerstones of Ancient Americans: Were They a Function of Flight or More a Flight of Fancy? The wheel started out as a man-made log. At Ancient Origins, we believe that one of the most important fields of knowledge we can pursue as human beings is our beginnings. Now the sledge was permanently attached to the axle and the wheels. The front edges of these runners were curved up like skis. In today’s world, technology is developing at an unprecedented rate. The concept of the wheel actually grew out of a mechanical device that the Sumerians had invented shortly after 3500 B.C.—the potter’s wheel. This period was known as the Bronze Age, which is a relatively late chapter in the story of the development of human civilisation. But their brief... Was there ever a Trojan War? The Sumerians didn’t, however, simply turn this clay-splattered wheel on its end and hook it to a wagon to make a wheel.