Egyptians And The Use Of The Wheel.

Photo by Traumrune,distributed under a CC license.

This is probably a topic that has caused more disagreements than it needed to.

Typically it starts with a group of people watching a documentary where it is being explained how the ancient Egyptians used to transport the stone with the aid of the sledge because they had not yet discovered the use of the wheel.

People seem to get really upset to such a statement and immediately like to point out to the famous depictions of pharaohs riding on their chariots into battle.

So are they right ? Well technically yes they are right, the ancient Egyptians did discover the wheel (or were at least introduced to it) but they are also very wrong because the wheel was discovered long after the pyramids of old were constructed.

Many people seem to fail to realize how old he ancient Egyptian civilization was and how long the civilization lasted for.

To put things into perspective. The Great Pyramid of Egypt is estimated to have been constructed in 2560BC – 2540BC, while the use of the wheel in ancient Egypt started between 1600 BC to 1501 BC.

There seems to be a general consensus that the Egyptians were introduced to the wheel when the chariots were first introduced as a weapon in Egypt by the Hyksos in the 16th century BC. This led to the Egyptians developing their own design of the chariot.