[Impy]

Odd.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

That's what I thought, when I first saw pre-Columbian wheeled toys in the national museum in Mexico City.

MeanWestTexan offers a plausible explanation in post 25, above.

I think nearly everyone just takes their culture (including all the technology) for granted, and rolls (ahem) with it. In traditional societies everywhere, there wasn't a notion of "progress". People didn't ask “is there a better way". Even today, there are huge differences in inventiveness between cultures. Compare the U.S. to nearly anywhere. Or, more dramatically, Israel to everyone else in their neighbourhood.