Long after people in ancient Europe, Egypt and Mesopotamia had started writing, building cities and operating furnaces, heavy loads were still being carried by donkeys, camels and people or – at the peak of technology – on sledges over the sand or across rolling tree trunks. In the advanced civilisations of South America, there were no wheels at all. Harald Haarmann shows how the potter’s wheel was invented in the Danube Valley civilisation in around 5000 B.C. It would be another thousand years before the first wagons were built in the Eurasian Steppe, which had a highly mobile society and suitable terrain. From there, the innovation quickly spread in all directions: to Europe, Mesopotamia, India and China. In around 2000 B.C. the era of the chariot began, enabling people to conquer and control large areas. This was the heyday of the ancient Oriental empires. The replacement of chariots by highly mobile mounted armies could not halt the triumph of the wheel: trolleys, bucket wheels, spinning wheels and gear drives have changed the world, and are still doing so to this day.

*“Take away the wheel – and we are left with very little.” Physicist Ernst Mach, 1883

*The most important invention in human history – and why it is so relatively recent

*New archaeological insights into the origin of the wheel in the Eurasian Steppe

*How the wheel gave rise to new empires, boosted trade and became a powerful symbol in philosophy and religion

*Featuring numerous colour illustrations