When most people think of the invention of the wheel, the image that comes to mind is a caveman chipping away on a flat block of stone. Actually the earliest evidence comes from Sumeria in Mesopotamia around 3500 B.C., where a potter’s wheel is depicted on a clay tablet. About 300 years later a wheeled cart is depicted. The Egyptians of the Pyramid Age (2700-2200 B.C.) didn’t have the wheel. They used sledges (platforms on runners) to drag the great stones over the sand.
Source: David J. Ladouceur, Notre Dame associate professor, The Classics