On Native Americans Not Having the Wheel

Believe it or not this is only partly true. As the legendary Thomas Sowell points out in "Cultures and Conquests", they did possess the wheel. It was just on toys, though, and the reason for this was because the Western Hemisphere did not have the type of animals (i.e., horses, oxen, and mules) necessary to pull heavy wagons and carts. They did use dogs to pull sledges (the Eskimos and Some South American tribes) but for the heavier objects it was all about manpower (head carrying being common among Native American peoples).