The Ancients Origins of the Wheel
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Dec 5, 2024 Dr. Richard Bulliet, a Professor Emeritus at Columbia University renowned for his work in archaeology, and Dr. Kai James, a computational engineer who employs modeling to validate historical theories, delve into the origins of the wheel. They propose a fascinating idea that prehistoric miners in the Carpathian Mountains engineered the wheel around 6,000 years ago. The discussion covers the wheel's impact on mining and transport, the cultural shifts during the Copper to Bronze Age, and the intricate relationship between early technology and environmental factors.
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Wheel Debate
- The invention of the wheel is heavily debated due to a lack of a clear origin point.
- Many societies, including the Western Hemisphere and sub-Saharan Africa, did not adopt the wheel until modern times.
Possible Origins
- Three potential origin points for the wheel include Mesopotamia, the Black Sea region, and Southeast Europe.
- Each region presents different factors like early wheeled vehicles, horse domestication, and the presence of copper.
Borolas Culture
- The Borolas culture, a Copper Age society in Southeast Europe, is central to the wheel origin theory.
- They mined copper, and the need to transport large quantities of ore may have driven wheel invention.