WHEEL

This is Isabeau (Isabelle) of Bavaria(-Ingolstadt) entering Paris for coronation in 1389. The picture above is not the only one, depicting this major event, there is another one, with more luxurious looks:

Pictures look different yet they share similar details:

• Isabelle is riding a ... palankin carried by couple of horses, in the second picture the horses are covered with fine cloth and they look smaller, maybe it's donkeys
• everybody else, including the fair ladies in fine hats with veils, rides horses or walks

If you think this is somewhat exceptional you can review all illustrations in wiki article about Lady Isabeau or, let's say, her somewhat famous contemporary Christine de Pizan. They either ride a horse or walk, they never ride in a carriage or wagon. There is not a single wheel in sight anywhere. It's not just the ladies, lots of battle miniatures, e.g. those of 100 Year War, don't show anything on wheels but cannons until 1400. Most of those illustrations are anachronistic and were made in almost 1500. Also France was nowhere in the times of Lady Isabeau and what pictures show is probably the Italian reality of that period. These facts make absense of the wheeled transport even more surprising. Oldest I found is 1326 illustration with two wheel carts used for cargo and ploughing (Livre du trésor, et autres traités):

In both cases carts are used not for passengers. Italians also used so called carroccio platforms for parades and even battles, but not for travel. All of these could only move slow, because fast movement would cause vibration and wheels would fall apart. That's why nobody's riding them, horse is way more reliable and much faster.

WAGONS APPEAR

In 1400+ Czech Hussites developed tactics of using wagons as mobile fortifications like on the left picture below, which proved to be very successful. At the same time fair ladies used to ride wagons like one on the right picture.

Why is that nobody used the wagons for defence before Hussites? Isn't it obvious? Why is fair lady's carriage looking so primitive? Why is that front wheels in both pictures look affixed same way as back wheels, which means there is no turning mechanism invented yet? Given what we do not see before 1400, the only explanation is that wagons are the brand new high tech.

WHEELS MISSING GLOBALLY

One might think this was a European problem, a savage land in medieval, but look at those dresses and veils of the fair ladies, this is culture, most of what they wear is made of fabrics imported from Middle East. These aren't savage crusaders eating corpses of enemies in 1098. If decent wheels existed anywhere at 1100 there would be something for the fine French ladies of 1300+. Quran, hadiths, "1001 Night Tales", Omar Hayam, - nobody mentions wheeled transport. Primitive solid wood wheels existed, yet they were heavy and could only withstand slow movement, pulled by people, bulls, donkeys. Those wouldn't make much sense for travel, but OK for heavy cargo or ceremonial use, like this 1870 Indian Juggernaut.

There are historical studies and theories to explain this phenomenon. E.g. The Camel and the Wheel (1975) by Richard W. Bulliet. His quote from 1973 article: Eastern society wilfully abandoned the use of the wheel, one of mankind's greatest inventions ... As late as the 1780's the French traveler Volney could still note, "It is remarkable that in all of Syria one does not see a single cart or wagon." Moreover, in the Arabic and Persian languages one is hard pressed to find any vocabulary proper to either the use or construction of carts and wagons..

In Japan same striking absense was explained by a a ban on wheeled vehicles from the Tokugawa period (1603–1868) ... In China, the rickshaw was first seen in 1873 and ... Within a year there were 10,000 rickshaws in operation ... Around 1880 rickshaws appeared in India, first introduced in Simla by Reverend J. Fordyce.. It's a pattern, isn't it? BTW, first rickshaws were invented in France in the late 17th century.

The obvious guess of practical/affordable wooden spoked wheel never existing anywhere before late medieval somehow is too hard for historians. Why? With no wheeled transport the Great Roman Roads become a myth. Who would you build roads for, with no wagons/carts in use yet? And what about pharaoh chasing Jews in chariots? Bhagavad Gita? Upanishads? Avesta? They all talk about chariots! OMG, is it all written in medieval? That's why a theory of super-effective camels deprecating wheeled transport in the Eastern Roman Empire is invented. The point about Persian language missing the terminology is absurd, the Old Persian/Hindi word is ratha (𐬭𐬀𐬚𐬀, रथ), it's same Indo-European root as in rotate.

WHEELS AREN'T THE ONLY PROBLEM

Yet another proof of wagons being a late medieval invention:

• horizontal windmill is described around 900 only (as an invention of 600+ but I trust ancient historians no more than modern ones)
• vertical windmill didn't exist before 1100
• trebuchet didn't exist in Europe before 1100
• Genovese crossbowmen were elite regiment of 1300+ with their powerfull crossbows that had rotating charging mechanism

BTW, the idea that trebuchet could move on wheels is popular in modern reconstructions and computer games yet missing in the authentc medieval pictures. Trebuchet was very heavy and was built on-demand or assembled from pre-manufactured parts where needed. There was no need to move it long distance in one piece. If repositioning was necessary, the logs used as rollers would do the job.

What this means is that tools and craftsmanship were perfected in parallel, the larger things, like windmills and trebuchet, came first, later same technologies were miniaturized. After 1400 woodworking became advanced enough to make identical spokes and sections of the wheel rim and a straight axis rod and affix it all together and wrap it with a thin iron "tire", so it doesn't fall apart from constant stress and vibration.

BRONZE WHEELS?

Scientists claim that Pharaohs (on the left are the actual ones found in Tutankhamun's tomb) and Assyrians had light spoked composite wooden/leather wheels. Maybe, but those wouldn't last more than one battle, only support a very light chariot with couple of people in it, etc. More spokes and thicker rim would help with weight, but fragility of connections will still be an issue - vibration will break/deform the wheel. Which explains why nobody used them for wheeled transport in Near East:

Look how thin and curved the spokes (only 4!) and rim are on the "antique" vase picture of chariot racer below. I'd say these were cast from bronze, very expensive, for racers/elite. This technology is similar to casting of bronze cannons and must have been developed around same time. We hear of cannons in 1200+. Given how primitive gunpowder technology is they appear that late only because large bronze object casting was just invented. These bronze wheels can't be older than 1100:

There are many illustrations of such elegant 4-spoked wheels from "antiquity", pulled by 4 horses, which tells us who invented it. Persian numeral 4 is char (چار) and the wheel is charkh (چَرْخ) which is the true etymology of Old French char from which English chariot and car are derived.

BTW, in Hindi wheel is pronounced chak(ka)r(a) चक्कर, and that plus ship nauq/nav नौका is probably the chakkar-nauq origin of English juggernaut. In India nobody says juggernaut, it's a misheard explanation (it's a "wheel-ship", Mr. British Officer), later interpreted by theologist linguist as derivation from deity Jagannātha.