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To: Openurmind
Like the still thought notion that all native americans were ignorant savages because they didn’t have the wheel. They understood the wheel just fine. Just had no need for it. With the wheel comes the need for the infrastructure to utilize this wheel. The only need for a wheel is when one is greedy or glutenous and want to carry more than they truly need to survive.

Lots of uses for the wheel, if you have any agriculture. Agriculture in most of North and South America was not well developed. They had very few domestic animals, unlike Eurasia, or even Africa.

You don't need to be greedy to use wheels. You just don't want your children to die of starvation in the winter.

Americans before the European came (and for quite a while after) lived very brutal and short lives.

42 posted on 02/11/2019 12:56:52 PM PST by marktwain (President Trump and his supporters are the Resistance. His opponents are the Reactionaries.)
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To: marktwain

There is historical truth in what you say here. They did not have beasts of burden so the need for the wheel just wasn’t there because there was no practical tool to pull it. They did have very wide spread cultivation in South America but even if they had beasts of burden bigger than the llama the terrain would not have allowed it because to build the infrastructure would have burned more calories than they could have consumed.

While they did build roads (more like trails) over this terrain it was only practical because of the climbing abilities and agility of the camelids. They still do not build roads over most of this terrain because it’s not practical. Something to always remember is that early survival was a very fine balance of calorie profit or loss. Some impractical concepts just were not worth the extra expenditure of calories so there was just no need for it.

A reality I would like to point out is that most Europeans lived brutal and short lives before they came here too. :) .


45 posted on 02/11/2019 1:33:04 PM PST by Openurmind
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