Wheel

This wooden wheel is one of the few surviving examples from the Late Neolithic in the Netherlands. It probably belonged to a two-wheel or four-wheel oxcart; such carts were sometimes interred with deceased wealthy tribal chiefs as burial gifts. The wheel is perfectly circular and made of fairly thin wood. These wheels demonstrate the importance of transport in the Neolithic economy. The oldest roads date from the same era. Of these, the most conspicuous are the wooden roads that were laid across peat bogs, especially in the province of Drenthe. They were built to ensure that travellers could pass safely from one dry, sandy area to the next.