Wheelbarrows are useful even if all you have is short mostly-level paths, even if you don’t have paths much longer than the width of a construction site. Then once those are in use, the incentive (and the ability) to lengthen and flatten other paths is greatly increased.
Wooded parts of the Americas did have some famously long paths though I don’t know how passable they would be for carts.
Jared Diamond wrote that North america had not good animals for domestication. (sorry I dont remember in which book) It could be showstopper for using wheel massively.
Wheelbarrows, hand carts are still massively useful. I used to help out with construction. It is hard enough with wheelbarrows. We did not use them on roads, just around the site.
I’d still expect carts to be useful in cultures that use loads of wood, or maybe to transport larger quantities of materials for trade. For example, this Seneca story has a man burning logs down to a size he can easily carry. Some northern peoples used dogs as pack animals, but the only land vehicles I’m aware of were sleds.
Wheelbarrows are useful even if all you have is short mostly-level paths, even if you don’t have paths much longer than the width of a construction site. Then once those are in use, the incentive (and the ability) to lengthen and flatten other paths is greatly increased.
Wooded parts of the Americas did have some famously long paths though I don’t know how passable they would be for carts.
Jared Diamond wrote that North america had not good animals for domestication. (sorry I dont remember in which book) It could be showstopper for using wheel massively.
Wheelbarrows, hand carts are still massively useful. I used to help out with construction. It is hard enough with wheelbarrows. We did not use them on roads, just around the site.
If you construct things out of bricks or stone, yes. If you live in a wigwam or a hut of sticks and dry leaves, no.
I’d still expect carts to be useful in cultures that use loads of wood, or maybe to transport larger quantities of materials for trade. For example, this Seneca story has a man burning logs down to a size he can easily carry. Some northern peoples used dogs as pack animals, but the only land vehicles I’m aware of were sleds.
Wood generally comes from the forest and carts are not all that useful in a forest...
Absolutely, I had Tenochtitlan in mind, not Winnetou.