Rethink the saying “reinventing the wheel.” Now you’ll have to update it, because the origins of the wheel are much older than we thought. A group of researchers found some of the wheel’s 12.000 year old perforated stones: these are now the first recognized evidence of the use of rotation in human history.
The first traces of rotation
Big discoveries are often hidden in the smallest details. In this case, we are talking about 113 perforated stones found at the site of Nahal Ein Gev II, an ancient village in northern Israel. The new discovery, published in the journal PLOS One (I link it to you here), takes us back to a time when humanity was just beginning to experiment with technologies that would change the world.
The history of these stones is fascinating: The first six were discovered during a test excavation in 1972, the other 107 have emerged between the 2010 and the 2021. A patient research lasting almost half a century that gives us a unique look at the origins of rotating technology.
A leap into the past of the origins of the wheel
The oldest wheel ever found dates back to (or it would be better to say “dated”) about 5.000 years ago, in the swamps of Ljubljana in Slovenia. But these small perforated stones tell us an even older story. They belong to the Natufian culture, that flourished in the Levant between 15.000 and 11.500 years ago. These are not miniature wheels, but something equally revolutionary: spindle whorls to spin the thread.
Detailed analysis reveals that 42% of the stones were fully perforated, 32% had partial holes, and 36% showed early signs of perforation. This tells us a lot about the manufacturing process and the experiments done by our ancestors.
Perfection is not necessary
The research team conducted practical experiments to test their theory. The most interesting discovery? The stones did not have to be perfectly round to work. The important thing was that the hole was in the center. This detail particularly strikes me: the Natufians had understood that geometric perfection was not necessary to obtain practical results.
In our study, we have shown how the NEG II drilled stones provide evidence of a wheel-shaped tool used in a rotating mechanism as long as 12.000 years ago.
Archaeologists have considered various possible uses for these stones: they could be beads, fishing weights, frame weights. But experiments confirmed their function as spindle whorls. The heaviest and the lightest had different advantages in spinning, showing a sophisticated understanding of mechanics by our ancestors.
Origins of the wheel, the principle of the axis and rotation
What makes these stones so significant is the mechanical principle they embody. A spindle works only if a stick is inserted through the central hole, creating an axis of rotation. It is the same principle that, millennia later, would allow the wheel to revolutionize transportation and trade.
Spindles, including those of NEG II, connect to the evolution of subsequent rotating technologies by establishing the mechanical principle of the wheel and axle.
Innovation rarely comes out of the blue. Technology evolves gradually, often starting with practical, everyday uses. The Natufians weren’t trying to invent the wheel; they were just looking for an efficient way to spin fiber. Yet, in doing so, they laid the foundation for one of the greatest technological revolutions in human history.
These ancient spindle whorls predate the invention of the wheel by thousands of years, but they share the same fundamental principle: rotation around an axis. We can't trace a direct line from these devices to the invention of the wheel, but we can see how human ingenuity gradually evolved, experimenting with the principles that would lead to the great innovations to come.
The story continues
We may never know who invented the first wheel, but each new discovery like this helps us better understand the path of human innovation. The origins of the wheel are not a single moment of genius, but a long history of small discoveries and gradual improvements, beginning much earlier than we thought.
This research reminds us that technological progress is not always linear or predictable. Just as the Natufians could not have imagined that their spindle whorls would anticipate the invention of the wheel, we too are using (and perhaps criticizing, because we do not fully understand them) technologies that contain the seeds of great future innovations.
