Who Invented the Wheel? Uncover Ancient Secrets

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Few inventions have reshaped human history as profoundly as the wheel. For a long time, it was assumed that Mesopotamia — as “the cradle of civilization” — was the birthplace of the wheel. But over the last few decades, new discoveries in Europe have challenged this old assumption.
Because the earliest known tracks of wheeled vehicles anywhere in the world are from northern Germany. The oldest model wheels in the world are from Ukraine. The oldest preserved wooden wheel in the world comes from Slovenia. And the earliest graves containing wheels and wagons were dug into the East European steppe. So who invented the wheel? And when was the wheel invented? And why was the wheel invented, as well as the axle, the wagon, and the cart?
This is the story of the invention of the wheel.

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*Video Chapters*

00:00 The Invention of the Wheel
01:30 Sponsorship
03:15 Before the Wheel
5:10 Sledge Models
7:35 Wheeled ox
8:59 Flintbek wheel tracks
11:10 Bronocice Pot
12:05 Züschen megalithic art
12:42 The Ljubljana Marshes Wheel
15:04 Carpathian Mining Hypothesis
18:24 Late 4th Millennium Mobility Changes
19:47 Steppe Wagon Burials
23:39 Linguistic Evidence
25:40 Mesopotamian Symbols
28:46 Spread of the Wheel