"Mesopotamia, the 'Land Between Rivers,' is widely considered the birthplace of civilization. This article explores three pivotal inventions that propelled its development: the wheel, the plow, and the city. Initially, the wheel revolutionized pottery production, leading to increased storage and specialization of labor. Later adapted for transport around 3200 BCE, it facilitated trade and construction. The plow, developed in the 4th millennium BCE, dramatically improved agricultural yields, enabling surpluses and further specialization. These advancements culminated in the rise of the first cities, like Uruk, fostering complex social structures, administration, and ultimately, the dawn of written history."
Harvard researchers traced the origins of the vast Indo-European language family to the Caucasus-Lower Volga region, identifying the ancestral population known as the Yamnaya, who appeared around 3300 BCE and spread from Hungary to western China.
A study published by a multidisciplinary team of researchers proposes that the wheel originated in Neolithic mines of the Carpathian Mountains around 3900 B.C. The study, based on computational mechanical analysis, outlines a three-phase technological evolution of the wheel from free rollers to fixed-axle wheel design.
A new study suggests that the wheel may have been invented by copper miners in the Carpathian Mountains around 3900 B.C., using techniques from structural mechanics to trace the evolution of the wheel and axle.