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[Prog summaries - [Ice World]
[The Earth was Born] [Out
of Eden] [In perspective]]
[Out of chaos - [Introduction]
[Divine guidance] [Tools
of knowledge] [Religious conflict]
[Search goes on]]
[Survival - [Introduction] [Exodus]
[New Technology] [Moving
on]]
[The Globe - [Introduction]
[Star Dust] [Water
of life]]
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If people were now living in fixed settlements they needed faster and more efficient ways to travel so that they could return with their finds. The wheel created the transport revolution — enabling people to build carts to carry much more than they could on their backs, for greater distances and faster. The first recorded wheel, made of solid wood, is dated to 5,500 years ago in Mesopotamia. The wheel was also later used for pulleys and grinding wheat.
As the fixed settlements expanded, individuals were able to amass knowledge about their skills and environment. People began to specialise in making tools, equipment and building. As they did so, they were able to innovate and more sophisticated tools were developed. For example, later sickles have serrated edges so that the grain is not knocked from the ear of corn, preserving resources in the more confined space.
Man learned to ride the horse about 4,000 years ago, another revolution in transport. But thousands of years before this, as well as being a source of food, animals had been harnessed to produce greater power for a variety of tasks, such as grinding wheat. The foundations for modern cities and mass transport were laid.