Copper miners from the Carpathian Mountains in Eastern Europe may have been the driving force behind three important technological innovations that led to the invention of the wheel already in the year 3900 BC This is suggested by a new study that uses structural mechanics techniques and whose results are published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.
Archaeological evidence of wheels and wheeled vehicles abounds in the Copper Age (around 5000 to 3000 BC) in Europe, Asia, and North Africa, including battle scenes painted on walls, miniature wheels, children’s toys, chariot burials, and even early textual references to technology. However, because the wheel was adopted so quickly, it is unclear exactly where and when it was first invented, or whether it was invented independently at different times and places.
There is three main theories about the origin of the wheel. One suggests that it first appeared in Mesopotamia around 4000 BC. C. and then spread to Europe. Another theory suggests that it developed around the Pontic coast of northern Türkiye around 3800 BC. C. The third main theory maintains that the wheel was invented in the mountains Carpathians between 4000 and 3500 BC. C., and spread in various directions from there.
This third theory, presented in 2016 by the historian Richard Bullietprofessor emeritus at Columbia University and co-author of the new study, is based on the idea that, around 4000 B.C. By C., the highly sought-after copper ore had become harder to find, requiring miners to delve into mines and remove containers of ore. Late Copper Age cart models that have been found in the Carpathian region are rectangular with trapezoidal sides, similar to today’s mining carts, Bulliet wrote in the book The Wheel: Inventions and Reinventions (Columbia University Press, 2016), reports Live Science.
In the new study, Bulliet and co-authors Kai James, an aerospace engineer at Georgia Tech, and Lee Alacoque, an engineer who previously worked at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, detailed their model of how the wheel probably evolved.
Drawing on their knowledge of ancient wheel systems based on archaeological evidence, the team used computational mechanics and design science to investigate how people may have converted a set of simple rollers into a wheel and axle system.
In their study, the researchers suggested that three innovations were needed for the wheel to evolve. Given the need to move a heavy basket or box, people They probably used rollers placed along a pathmoving the rear rollers forward as necessary.
Three innovations
The first innovation (grooved rollers) would have allowed the box to rest on the rollers and move back and forth, without people having to walk around it to replace the rollers. This could have allowed people to push a wider cart into the mine. The second innovation was a wheelsetor wheels attached to an axle, which could have given the cart greater ground clearance to pass over rocks and other debris in a mine shaft. And the third innovation, where the wheels move independently of the axisprobably emerged about 500 years after the wheelset and added maneuverability to the design, according to the article.
After generating an optimized wheelset design, the team discovered, based on their computational analysis, that the evolution of the wheel and axle from simple rollers was a plausible descent path that reflected an increasingly energy-efficient design. . But the Carpathian mines may also have influenced the design.
“The environment in which the original wheel developers operated contained certain unique characteristics that encouraged a shift toward roller-based transportation,” James told Live Science in an email. “Basically, these environmental characteristics (e.g. a narrow and closed road) pushed the wheel developers toward that particular design.”
However, the researchers noted that the wheel did not stop evolving in the Copper Age. For example, the invention of radial ball bearings in 1869 led to significant advances in the automotive and machinery industries in the 20th century.
Although the new model may explain how the wheel was invented in Eastern Europe, and possibly spread from there, it may not be the last word on the subject. “I think it is still possible that multiple civilizations discovered the wheel independently”James said.
The computational design approach that the researchers took in this study could potentially be applied to other archaeological questions, James said. “For example, I think there is still a lot to learn about exactly how the pyramids were built,” he said. “Computational mechanical design could be instrumental in answering some of those questions.”
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