A new abstract concept is rather different from the different application of an already implemented concept.
The Inca and their antecedents in the Andes are often invoked as examples to show urbanized culture lineages can endure for thousands of years and acquire great sophistication without ever inventing the wheel, because the great Inca road system, which otherwise rival the Roman road system, was clearly not designed for wheel traffic. But careful examination of Inca artifacts show this was not so. The Inca clearly knew how to make and use the wheel because they installed functional wheels on their children’s toys and animal figurines so these can be pushed along on the ground. So they clearly failed to use the wheel for vehicles and transportation because of reasons other than not knowing how.
The Inca and their antecedents in the Andes are often invoked as examples to show urbanized culture lineages can endure for thousands of years and acquire great sophistication without ever inventing the wheel, because the great Inca road system, which otherwise rival the Roman road system, was clearly not designed for wheel traffic. But careful examination of Inca artifacts show this was not so. The Inca clearly knew how to make and use the wheel because they installed functional wheels on their children’s toys and animal figurines so these can be pushed along on the ground. So they clearly failed to use the wheel for vehicles and transportation because of reasons other than not knowing how.
