[conservatism_IS_compassion]

But why did the people found living in what is now called North America when Europeans arrived in significant numbers, beginning in the 1300s or thereabouts (pick your own century), seemingly not know about the wheel?

Indigenous North Americans were in the Stone Age - they didn’t do metal, let alone the wheel. And the point of this article is that the wheel itself isn’t the big deal - it is the bearing which allows the wheel to turn which is the real deal. And you can’t make efficient, durable bearings out of wood or stone. In fact, ball and roller bearings are made of very high quality steel - anything less breaks down in a hurry under the concentrated, cyclic loads involved - and a damaged ball bearing produces more friction, not less, than a simple sliding bearing.

[SunkenCiv]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2858260/posts?page=39#39

[PIF]

Indigenous North Americans were in the Stone Age - they didn’t do metal.

—

Actually that is a misnomer - the nates in North America mined and used copper - mostly for jewlry. Northern MI has extensive open copper mines going back a few thouand years.

Coinsidentally, the peak of the mining occurred precisely at the time copper usage peaked in on the other side of the Atlantic, where no mines have been found to equal the quantities used.