Bronocice pot

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An artist's rendition.
An artist's rendition.

The Bronocice pot is a ceramic pot incised with the earliest known image of what may be a wheeled vehicle. It dates from just after 4000 BC, and is firmly attributed to the Funnelbeaker archaeological culture. The pot was discovered at an archaeological site near the Polish village of Bronocice, and is housed in a museum in Kraków.

[edit] Inscription

Depicted may be a wagon, its hitch for a single draught animal, and its four wheels. The wheels are displayed flat, two dimensionally, the lines connecting them to the main body representing axles.

[edit] Historical implications

The image on the pot might imply the existence of wagons in Poland ca. 4000 BC. They were presumably drawn by cattle (barely tamed aurochs at that point in time), because sheep or goats could not have pulled something heavy. It raises questions about the original invention of the wheel, because a four-wheeled wagon is a relatively complicated use of a wheel.

[edit] External links