Ljubljana Marshes Wheel facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Ljubljana Marshes Wheel
The wheel is made of ash and oak. The aperture for the axle is square, meaning that the wheel and the axle rotated together.
Material	Ash wood
Width	Wheel: 72 cm Axle: 1.2 meters
Created	c. 3225 BC
Discovered	2002 Slovenia
Present location	Ljubljana City Museum, Ljubljana

The Ljubljana Marshes Wheel is a very old wooden wheel. It was found in 2002 in the Ljubljana Marsh, which is about 20 kilometers south of Ljubljana, the capital city of Slovenia. Scientists used a method called Radiocarbon dating to figure out its age. They found it was made around 3100-3350 BC. This makes it the oldest wooden wheel ever found! A team of Slovenian archaeologists discovered it. They were led by Anton Velušček.

Discovering the Ancient Site

Archaeologists have been finding old things in the Ljubljana Marsh for a long time. In 1875, they found remains of pile dwellings. These were houses built on stilts above water or wet ground. Since 2011, this area has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's protected because it shows how people lived in prehistoric times around the Alps.

Archaeologists found over a thousand wooden piles in the bed of the Iška River. These piles were near a town called Ig. They believe the houses built on these piles were about 3.5 by 7 meters in size. The houses were usually 2 to 3 meters apart. Studies of the piles show that people repaired their homes every year. They also had to build a new house in the same spot every 10 to 20 years.

The first people settled in this region around 7000 BC. During the Mesolithic period, they built temporary homes. These were on isolated rocks in the marsh or at its edges. They lived by hunting animals and gathering plants. People started building permanent homes around 4000 BC. This was during the Neolithic period, when the first farmers arrived.

The Oldest Wooden Wheel

This amazing wooden wheel was part of a prehistoric two-wheel cart. It was like a pushcart. Similar wheels have been found in the hilly parts of Switzerland and southwest Germany. However, the Ljubljana Marshes wheel is both bigger and older than those.

This discovery shows that wooden wheels might have appeared in Mesopotamia and Europe at almost the same time. Even though the Ljubljana Marshes wheel is so old, actual wheels found in Mesopotamia are from much later.

The wheel is about 72 centimeters across. It is made from ash wood. Its axle, which is about 124 centimeters long, is made of oak wood. The axle was attached to the wheels using oak wood wedges. This meant that the axle and the wheels turned together. The tree used for the wheel grew near the ancient pile dwellings. It was about 80 years old when the wheel was made.

The wheel itself seems to be made from two main pieces of wood. These pieces were held together by four cross braces. These braces were likely fitted into special slots carved into the two main wheel sections. This was done using a method called mortise and tenon.

See also

• Prehistoric Europe