History Main / InventingTheWheel

* Played with in a ''WesternAnimation/{{Histeria}}!'' sketch where, following the invention of the wheel, we meet the invention of the wheel '''salesman''' (played by Loud Kiddington).

* In the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "Tri-Stone Area" (in which everybody are cavepeople) Phinabunk and Gerb invents the wheel as their project of today. First they and their friends run around on top of the heavy stone wheels, but then they build a wagon.

* Another thing to consider regarding the various Pre-Colombian cultures of the Americas is fact that there were ''virtually no useable'' draft animals on the two continents. There were no horses or cattle on either continent for millennia and wouldn’t be until after the arrival of the Europeans. Without any sturdy animals to pull carts, the wheel would be useless to these cultures. The only two native American animals with any potential for hauling carts, the bison and the llama, each had problems. Bison are incredibly difficult to train, and llamas aren't easily adapted to environments outside their native mountains.

* In the case of the Aztecs and everybody north of them, it was a lack of draft animals rather than mountainous terrain that made the wheel useless for transportation. The only two native American animals with any potential for hauling carts, the bison and the llama, each had problems. Bison are incredibly difficult to train, and llamas aren't easily adapted to environments outside their native mountains.

* We have them, so someone evidently did. However, there WERE cultures that never invented the wheel -- generally [[{{Mayincatec}} Mesoamerican]] ones. These were cultures in which backbreaking weights had to be carried by either pack animals or, more likely, poor people. In past times this was taken as a sign of "primitiveness" or innate stupidity since the wheel is so profoundly simple. This view overlooks the fact that although the ''shape'' of the wheel is obvious, turning it into something useful requires a deeply non-obvious secondary invention: the axle. Manufacturing axles sturdy enough to use in carts is a significant engineering challenge, too. Modern historians have theorized that due to the rapidity with which evidence of wheeled carts appeared all over Eurasia around 3500 BC, they may well have been invented by a single person.

Most examples of this trope are guilty of some form of ArtisticLicenseHistory and/or AnachronismStew, since the wheel was invented [[NewerThanTheyThink later than most people think]] -- around 6,000 years ago, just about at the border between prehistory and history proper. This is particularly evident when TheDiscoveryOfFire is shown in the same setting, despite predating the wheel by 400,000 years in RealLife.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* Hengist Pod in ''Film/CarryOnCleo'' tries to create the wheel, but constantly makes squares. But the wheel has already been invented, at least in Ancient Rome. England and the rest of the British Isles are [[AnachronismStew still in the Celtic (and Stone Age) era]].

* Averted in ''Literature/{{Eric}}'':
-->''There are quite a lot of uses to which you can put a stone disc with a hole in the middle, and the Tezumen had explored all but one of them.''

* In Creator/SergeyLukyanenko's short story ''Evening Conference with the Mr. Special Deputy'', the alien ambassador reminisces on how his grandfather discovered the wheel on their planet, before revealing the horrible truth about humanity. Apparently, we are [[spoiler:the slowest species to advance technologically, and most other races advance at warp speed, to the point where the ambassador offers to give us their ships, which have already become obsolete since they arrived a few weeks before]].
* In ''Literature/ThePyrates'', the {{Mayincatec}} residents of the Lost City of Cohacgzln are waiting for a Great White God to arrive and teach them how to make wheels. Their massive step-pyramids are explained as piles of discarded wheel prototypes.

* Averted in the ''[[Literature/HumanxCommonwealth Icerigger]]'' trilogy, set on a frozen planet where the natives skate more than they walk. Justified in that sleds, sleighs, and iceboats ''were'' invented and extensively used, whereas wheels would be useless in their ice-covered habitat.

* One of Krunk's inventions in ''Series/YoureSkittingMe'' was the wheel. As normal, he was told ItWillNeverCatchOn and the wheel is pushed away, where it rolls downhill and kills a mammoth (off-screen).
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E6TheAztecs The Aztecs]]", the TARDIS crew take advantage of the fact that the Aztecs never never invented the wheel by using one to escape from the tomb. The Doctor takes the wheel with him to ensure the Aztecs don't discover it and change the course of history.

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* In one episode of ''Series/FraggleRock'', the Fraggles plan to use a flat, round object as a cover for a bucket of water. Wembley explains that the object is an invention of his: "I call it the wheel. It doesn't work, though -- it just keeps rolling away!"
* In the first episode of ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}'', a caveman triumphantly holds his new invention, a stone circle, over his head. Presumably it's the wheel -- but no, it's the hula hoop.
* "Caveman Grover" invents the wheel in a ''Series/SesameStreet'' skit about shapes. He and Biff are trying to get a heavy rock to the top of a hill. First he tries affixing square wheels, then triangular ones. He finally gets the shape right, and gets the rock to the top of the hill -- but it gets away from them and rolls back down the hill, landing on top of Grover. He decides that his next invention will be the Band-Aid.
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* In the Disney educational short "Donald and the Wheel", two "Spirits of Progress" (voiced by Thurl Ravenscroft and Max Smith of the Mellomen) try to convince a caveman version of WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck to invent the wheel.
* There were some hilarious, albeit ridiculous bad, attempts of inventing technology in a prehistoric episode of the [[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUK British Dennis the Menace]] cartoon. Not only was there a very much non-round wheel, there were also about two attempts at what were supposed to be tanks... with the very much caveman notion of just pushing them off a cliff at the enemy, complete with loud smash as it hit the floor.
* Played with in the ''WesternAnimation/SchoolhouseRock'' short "My Hero Zero." We see the stereotypical caveman with chisel, but the stone doughnut he's working on is a zero, not a wheel.
* Played with in a ''WesternAnimation/{{Histeria}}!'' sketch where, following the invention of the wheel, we meet the invention of the wheel '''salesman''' (played by Loud Kiddington).
* On ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'', a caveman has just chiseled a wheel when [[UniversalAdaptorCast Cave Buttons]] accidentally sets it rolling. The inventor seems surprised at how the wheel works, leading one to wonder what he had in mind.
* In ''WesternAnimation/SuperMarioWorld1991'', the Mario Brothers introduce cave people to wheels and, soon after, [[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones Flintstone]]-style cars. But thanks to the chaos of untrained drivers, followed by the wicked inspiration of [[MadScientist Kooky Von Koopa]], [[StatusQuoIsGod they discontinue the use of wheels entirely]].
* In the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "Tri-Stone Area" (in which everybody are cavepeople) Phinabunk and Gerb invents the wheel as their project of today. First they and their friends run around on top of the heavy stone wheels, but then they build a wagon.
* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'': a prehistoric version of Carl is shown to invent fire and the wheel... and promptly tries to roast meat within the wheel, shortly after building a vehicle that sits atop four bonfires.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' shows two cavemen accidentally creating the wheel when a {{Jerkass}} caveman comes by, pushes them out of the way, and ''[[TooDumbToLive wears the heavy stone carving as a hat]]''. The much younger [[TheGrimReaper Grim]] simply waits for him to get crushed by his new headgear.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/BackToTheFuture'' animated series, Doc Brown goes to the prehistoric past and accidentally invents the wheel while he's trying to keep himself from using up the last of his brain waves due to an April Fool's Day joke played on him by his sons.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' episode "The Past and the Furious", Cosmo and Wanda's first godchild was in the process of this until Timmy distracted him by introducing him to video games.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBigKnights'', Sir Boris and Sir Morris travel back in time 4 million years to the invention of the wheel. Sir Morris "improves" it into a square, resulting in all the wheels in the present becoming square-shaped.
* In ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'', during the "Missouri Mish-Mash" arc, it is revealed the the wheel was invented by the first person to ever wear the Kirwood Derby, a hat that makes its wearer the smartest person in the world.

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* In Creator/JackKirby's ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' comic, one of the earlier issues credits the wheel to the intervention of the monolith. Only Kirby could draw a two-page SplashPanel about the invention of the wheel and make it ''epic.''

* ''ComicBook/{{Archie}}'': A story about the Andrews family line shows Archie's [[IdenticalGrandson Identical Grandfathers]] shows that Archie's furthest ancestor was the thrall of the man who invented the wheel. Which Og Andrews accidentally destroys, to his master's fury.

* In the original ''Literature/TheMoomins'' comics, the family get sent back in time and set to work as slaves in a quarry. Moominpappa invents the wheel and tells the other slaves it'll help them carry rocks... but since he doesn't explain ''how'', they try to carry the wheel ''and'' the rocks at the same time.
-->'''Slave''': Rocks as heavy as before. New fat slave stupid.

In any story that takes place in HollywoodPrehistory, you're going to see someone invent the wheel. Common fodder for ItWillNeverCatchOn. In almost all cases, the wheel in question will simply be a large freestanding disc, either carved out of rough stone or cut from a large log, occasionally with a short wooden axle. Expect little to no exploration for any actual applications for this marvelous new invention, as though the inventor was aiming for the concept of the wheel itself. Often the wheel is some shape other than round, indicating that that iteration is probably an ObviousBeta.

* On the TV series of ''WesternAnimation/SuperMarioWorld'', the Mario Brothers introduce cave people to wheels and, soon after, [[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones Flintstone]]-style cars. But thanks to the chaos of untrained drivers, followed by the wicked inspiration of [[MadScientist Kooky Von Koopa]], [[StatusQuoIsGod they discontinue the use of wheels entirely]].

In any story that takes place in OneMillionBC, you're going to see someone invent the wheel. Common fodder for ItWillNeverCatchOn. In almost all cases, the wheel in question will simply be a large freestanding disc, either carved out of rough stone or cut from a large log, occasionally with a short wooden axle. Expect little to no exploration for any actual applications for this marvelous new invention, as though the inventor was aiming for the concept of the wheel itself. Often the wheel is some shape other than round, indicating that that iteration is probably an ObviousBeta.

* Depicted in Larry Gonick's ''ComicBook/TheCartoonHistoryOfTheUniverse''. The inventor of the wheel shows it to his friend, expectantly saying "Well?" His friend says "A tray with a hole? Maybe you should see the spiritual adviser..." Gonick also observes that the earliest wheels were more likely used for making pottery.
* An ''ComicBook/{{Archie}}'' story about the Andrews family line shows Archie's [[IdenticalGrandson Identical Grandfathers]] shows that Archie's furthest ancestor was the thrall of the man who invented the wheel. Which Og Andrews accidentally destroys, to his master's fury.
* Brazilian comic ''Comicbook/MonicasGang'', in the OneMillionBC segment "The Cavern Clan", frequently has this show up. One such instance had a wheel being created, and then used as a dinner table instead.

In any story that takes place in OneMillionBC, you're going to see someone invent the wheel. Common fodder for ItWillNeverCatchOn. Often the wheel is some shape other than round, indicating that that iteration is probably an ObviousBeta.

* There were some hilarious, albeit ridiculous bad, attempts of inventing technology in a prehistoric episode of the [[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUK British Dennis the Menance]] cartoon. Not only was there a very much non-round wheel, there were also about two attempts at what were supposed to be tanks... with the very much caveman notion of just pushing them off a cliff at the enemy, complete with loud smash as it hit the floor.

* Likewise trading fire for the wheel, or both being invented during one lifetime. Fire was first controlled something around a million years ago (i.e., before ''we were actually human''), and its use became widespread hundreds of thousands of years before the wheel. Check the "fire" article on Wiki/TheOtherWiki for details.

** In [[Series/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy the television adaptation]], the wheel that the Golgafrinchans invent is multicoloured and octagonal.

[[folder:Web Comics]]