Answer: Pottery

The wheel is such an old, ubiquitous, and obviously useful invention at this point in history that it would seem absolutely bizarre to have invented it and not immediately put it to use as a revolutionary adaptation to your modes of transportation, but that’s exactly what happened.

It is believed that the earliest use of the wheel occurred in major cities of the Indus Valley Civilization and Mesopotamia around 3500 BCE and possibly as early as 4000 BCE (with southeast Europe, China, and Egypt also considered as possible places of origin), where its use as a potter’s wheel allowed for quick and smooth “thrown” pottery to be made (as opposed to the coil method in use before the invention of the potter’s wheel).

Shortly after its invention for use in pottery, it made the leap from the potter’s shed to roadways and mill houses where it was quickly adapted for use on carts and chariots as well as for the milling of grains.