THE wheel is one of the humanity’s most fundamental inventions, but the details surrounding its true origin are a mystery. To date, there is no academic consensus on key questions such as where, how and who invented this technology. However, a recent study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science could have solved this riddle.
This artifact changed the world as it marked the beginning of human mobility and transportation. Recently, a team of historians discovered new elements which shed light on the origin of the wheel, calling into question previous theories.
What is the origin of the wheel according to this scientific study?
One of the accepted theories places the origin in Mesopotamia around 4000 BC, and from there it reached Europe. Now a investigation conducted by Columbia University in collaboration with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Georgia Institute of Technology in the United States, discovered a new explanation on the origin of the wheel.
The team, led by Richard Bullietstates in his study that the wheel was invented by Neolithic miners who extracted copper ore from Carpathians in 3900 BC.
In the analysis, the researchers propose a likely trajectory along which the wheel evolved through a sequence of several important innovations. They applied computational mechanics and design science to analyze how a simple set of rollers gave way to a system of wheels and axles.
Some researchers have suspected that the wheel evolved from free rollerswhile other scholars have expressed their rejection of this theory.
This is historical proof of the Carpathian Roll hypothesis
Archaeologists excavating sites in the Carpathian region have unearthed more than 150 terracotta models of four-wheeled cars. “All, judging by the large loop-shaped handle at one end, were designed for use as decanters,” the researchers add. The study points out that this makes jugs the oldest representations of wheeled transportation in the world.
According to carbon analysis, these date from the formation of Culture Boleraz who produced the jugs no later than 3600 BC. Several details suggest that the inspiration for these cups was small wheeled baskets used to transport ore in the trenches or tunnels of copper mines.
The cups have sets of wheels instead of wheels that spin independently. “This is consistent with a mining environment which, unlike a farmer’s field, facilitates the digging and paving of straight, leveled paths,” the experts note.
In contrast, premodern miners pushed mining carts along very narrow paths and the cups bear no trace of yokes or other harnesses. Finally, the cups feature grooved side panels that suggest the basketry depicted in ancient mining depictions.
