World's oldest wheel - photo

[Altair]

World's oldest wheel found in found in the Ljubljana Marsh in Slovenia. Radiocarbon dating showed that it is approximately 5,150 years old.




Previously:

Ancient Egyptian tools - photo
Ancient Roman aqueduct - photo
Ancient Roman faucet - photo
ancient Chinese south-pointing chariot
Ancient Egyptian lock mechanism - GIF

[Karl_H]

Major design changes since then. This one is flat only on the top. Now they get flat only on the bottom!

[Toolmaker51]

Major design changes since then. This one is flat only on the top. Now they get flat only on the bottom!

Technology marches on!.
Dang, hate how that word creeps into everything, when advertising people lack correct terminology that applies [chemistry - physics - mechanics - biology - etc]

Artifacts between this wheel and now of course are rare. It would be interesting to see how [if] they elevated from wheel turning on a spindle to making the axle active instead. I'd guess a worn axle less time consuming to replace than building a wheel, how they radiused a bearing saddle, or found big square lug washers lol.

[Frank S]

Technology marches on!.
Dang, hate how that word creeps into everything, when advertising people lack correct terminology that applies [chemistry - physics - mechanics - biology - etc]

Artifacts between this wheel and now of course are rare. It would be interesting to see how [if] they elevated from wheel turning on a spindle to making the axle active instead. I'd guess a worn axle less time consuming to replace than building a wheel, how they radiused a bearing saddle, or found big square lug washers lol.

Even more interesting to me would be their process to make the axle. Did it start out as being the size of the largest diameter then just cutting the square mating surfaces on the ends, was the center section the same as the largest diameter then just worn down to the current size? If so why is it seemingly true cylindrical the entire length and not worn irregularly? Did they construct some crude lathe to turn down the center if so why? Surely not for weight reduction. To what advantage would having both wheels locked to a rigid axle be? This would make turning what ever the wheel and axle was used on be very difficult if not nearly impossible when loaded. Just so many questions Only H,G, Wells would be able to answer all of them with his famed mythological Time Machine.

[Toolmaker51]

With early wheels being narrow, on dirt, the single axle might not be so troublesome. At the same time, once they reached paved [cobblestone, brick, flat stones maybe] roadways can't quite see how they learned to counter that until the iron tire came along. And that's just ordinary terrain, deserts and early wheels even harder to visualize.

[Ralphxyz]

Is that a axel above the wheel? They must of had some sort of lathe.

Ralph

[NortonDommi]

Having the whole axle turn means that easily made and replaceable bearing/s could be used and they could be made long enough to spread load and reduce wear also provide positive axle location.

Ralph, if you ever see a skilled woodworker cut a timber to shape with an axe you will be amazed at just how fast and accurate they can be. Think of wheelwrights, shipwrights, millwrights etc. A lot of round timber is used in holes tight and loose.

[WmRMeyers]

Having the whole axle turn means that easily made and replaceable bearing/s could be used and they could be made long enough to spread load and reduce wear also provide positive axle location.

Ralph, if you ever see a skilled woodworker cut a timber to shape with an axe you will be amazed at just how fast and accurate they can be. Think of wheelwrights, shipwrights, millwrights etc. A lot of round timber is used in holes tight and loose.

Wooden bearings are still used for rotating shafts in some applications. https://search.brave.com/search?q=wo...source=desktop