A collection of perforated pebbles, known as wheels, has been discovered at an archaeological site in Israel, representing a major milestone in the development of rotational devices, according to a study published in the journal PLOS ONE this month.
The doughnut-shaped objects, which are made of wood, appear to be the structure of a wheel and a spinning wheel, a major invention for its time that spurred technological advancements and, surprisingly, predate the Bronze Age.
The discovery shows a wheel-and-axle-like device that helped a stick spin faster and longer, effectively collecting fibers like wool.
The stones studied, which were recovered from a site in northern Israel, are about 12,000 years old. They date back to the Neolithic period, a major transition to an agricultural lifestyle and long before the wheels of the Bronze Age.
Introducing a new method for studying objects based on digital 3D models of stones and their holes, researchers have described more than a hundred discovered stone wheels.
