Wheely Cool
It seems that the wheel was invented as a functional device[1] perhaps only once in history. Earliest records of a potter's wheel come from ancient Europe, near modern-day Moldova and Western Ukraine.[2] Likely evolving from this, the round device seemed to find itself in a wooden form on vehicles ranging from Poland[3] to Mesopotamia[4] and China.[5]
The working theory is that vehicular wheels by themselves aren't useful, and really only make sense with a domesticated beast of burden. Additionally, the wheel is thought to be an example of the diffusion of innovation - an idea that tries to explain the speed at which technology spreads.[6]
Imagine a Sumerian shipping off their silver in an ox-drawn cart in exchange for timber from the Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC). The IVC man spies this nifty circular device mounted below a large wooden box. Was there any way for the Sumerian man to keep his intellectual property secret? No. And thus, with trade, the wheel spreads.
As opposed to a children's toy, which was invented separately in Mesoamerica. ↩︎
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucuteni–Trypillia_culture. ↩︎
See this depiction of a wheeled cart on a Polish pot; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronocice_pot. ↩︎
https://www.citeco.fr/10000-years-history-economics/the-origins/invention-of-the-wheel#:~:text=The wheel was invented in,to make a lighter wheel. ↩︎
http://kaogu.cssn.cn/ywb/news/new_discoveries_1/202001/t20200119_5081197.shtml. ↩︎