Inventing the wheel: more complicated than you think

Professor Bulliet argues that inventing the wheel is not the biggest breakthrough in human invention.,,,

In a nutshell, I argue that the whole concept of "the wheel" being invented is misleading -- three conceptually different types of wheels were invented at different times and places, and their uses varied greatly over the centuries.

Furthermore, the idea that the wheel is mankind's greatest invention is basically a myth that began in the twentieth century, largely because of the spread of the third type of wheel: the caster (invented around 1700)...

From the Copper Age onward, many societies that knew about the concept of the wheel chose not to use it for transportation, for various reasons.

Here's an imgur gallery of some interesting wheel images that explain different parts of my thinking.

Wheeled bull from Ukraine This toy is the earliest known object on wheels.

Wheeled bull from Ukraine This toy is the earliest known object on wheels.

the problem: it's not just the wheel, it's the axle and the spokes and being able to turn the wheel, and attaching an animal to the wagon/chariot etc. to pull it.

the Boston Globe has a long review of the book here and using a fixed axel in mines and discusses wagons used in the steppes to carry houses.

and Aramco world discusses how and why these wheeled wagons were abandoned in the Middle East: Camels were cheaper and easier. 

(but) there has been little notice taken of the amazing fact that Middle Eastern society wilfully abandoned the use of the wheel, one of mankind's greatest inventions....

But gradually over the course of the first four or five centuries of the Christian era, and perhaps even earlier, all wheeled transport in the area, from the grandest chariot to the humblest farm wagon, passed out of existence.

the article has a lot more about the domestication of the camel and it's importance to traders, the ability of the nomads to monopolize long distance trade, and how it gradually became cheaper for farmers to rent camels than to haul things in complicated and expensive wagons..

A side note:
and this might explain why the Inca etc. who had llamas to carry loads, never used wagons on their roads...