What wheelbarrows can teach us about world history

I use the example of the wheelbarrow to talk about some general points about the history of technology, and the limits to our ability to reasonably make sweeping generalizations about individual technologies.
0:00 Some people overestimate how necessary wheelbarrows are
3:53 Technologies are only obvious in hindsight
7:23 It's really hard to trace the origins of a technology
11:44 Technologies have context
Thumbnail image:
La aldeanita del clavel rojo
Adolfo Guiard, 1903
Bilbao Fine Arts Museum
Accession number 82/31
bilbaomuseoa.e...
commons.wikime...

[@clovercarroll8285]

"been thinking a lot about wheelbarrows lately" is probably the best opening to a video I've heard

[@sinjudow]

Pretty common conversation starting topic as well for a session in which your psychiatrist is trying to find out if you're autistic

[@liamalexandr9282]

Right? I had the same thought as I always do when someone says this: “Go on…”

[@frzngrouse2924]

…much more excited when Premodernist says it instead of HGTV.

[@SamBrickell]

That's the kind of sentence that people with an IQ of 150 and people with an IQ of 50 might both say with equal regularity! 😄

[@raraavis7782]

​@@SamBrickell Lol...love that observation...

[@advicepirate8673]

As a former farm boy and current construction worker, I've pushed a lot of wheelbarrows around in my day. Something to keep in mind: Even modern wheelbarrows with rubber tires absolutely suck when you aren't operating on level ground without any obstructions. Uphill for any kind of distance? No go. Downhill for any kind of distance? No go. Little rocks scattered around? Not till you clear them all. Now put a wooden wheel on it and all those problems just got so much worse. You would NEED an established path to operate it. I imagine you couldn't even run it on cobblestone.

[@rharris22222]

Yeah I was just thinking of steps. If you are doing a construction job and you need to move a few loads of sand, you get some boards and make a little ramp here, a path over the puddle there...but if you're going to the market, even the walk is in good shape, if there are a few steps here or there and you're working alone the wheelbarrow quickly becomes more trouble than it's worth.

[@phoebexxlouise]

Yeah I was thinking that!

[@jamesolivito4374]

Spot on about the wheel barrel . He should mention the history of carts ,wagons, and other tools pulled by animals when speaking about the use of the wheel . The Roman's might not have used wheel barrels but they had chariots. The whole carring things on your head is strange . Especially carring a baby on your head . CPS would surely frown on this .

[@bramvanduijn8086]

@@jamesolivito4374 Our spine is quite well designed for carrying heavy things above it. After all, that is how it keeps our head from rolling off.

[@joeyramstad8529]

Reminds me of a video I saw a while back of a guy that attached mountain bike suspension to his wheelbarrow to make it more useful on the uneven terrain of his bike trails😂

[@Intothewildblueyonder]

Historians: *considers dozens of complex social variables* Laborers: *remembers how much they hate those stupid wheelbarrows*

[@pmac5934]

Yep .See my comment above

[@shannonkohl68]

I hardly qualify as a laborer, but I did grow up on a farm. We had a wheelbarrow. It wasn't used that much. It could be a pain in the butt if the ground was rough, muddy, snowy, etc. Of course in many cases people would have better options. He mentions the Romans not using them. Slavery was common in Roman times. Why bother to have wheelbarrows if you have slaves to do all the manual labor? Or if you had a beast of burden, you're going to use that rather than the wheelbarrow.

[@cremsen1]

Nah, general construction worker here, I like wheelbarrows.

[@televikkuntdaowuxing]

It’s a misconception that romans almost exlusively used slaves for construction, no, there existed construction workers, with plenty of ranks. And besides, more importantly: the fact you have slaves to do the hard work doesn’t mean they shouldn’t or won’t use wheelbarrows, if they are really so useful. If something is supposedly more objectively efficient for a task (meaning in this case slaves getting less tired, working faster, etc), why wouldn’t someone try to use it as much as possible? The answer is simple: certain technologies can be more efficient for certain, specific tasks, but not all. And not for all environments or conditions. Hence, the wheelbarrow isn’t objectively more efficient for carrying stuff around than your hands, head or arms. That is all

[@aidancooper9498]

​@@cremsen1what areas do you do construction in? I'm in the Pacific northwest, it's wet and hilly, and I don't do construction but I have done a variety of yard labor and own a wheelbarrow and it has only been helpful a fraction of the times that it's been available for me to use.

[@postyoda1623]

In our village in Azerbaijan around 30 years ago, we (and esp. women) used to carry stuff around on our heads, most of the time, although we had wheelbarrows. As for the reason we didn't use the wheelbarrow very much, there were a myriad of rationales. For one thing, families would have like 15 members and only one or two wheelbarrows, if that. Second is the wheelbarrow has a weight and you really need to pass a certain critical load to justify using it (and these are modern thin aluminum lightweight barrows with rubber tires, I only can guess how heavy and unwieldy a wooden one would be with wooden tires; I'd imagine very impractical unless for very urgent needs). Third, it was kind of a chore to go and bring it for every little thing or for short paths when you were going to use it once or twice not more. Also when it rained and the ground was muddy or when you were not using well-trodden paths it'd be more of a nuisance than being handy. And most paths were rough, uneven and not well-trodden. All in all, it was used quite rarely, mostly for moving grain, or dried dung for fuel or when there was some construction in a certain place. I think if you didn't have a reason to not think about these constraints you could just deduce these things without ever seeing a village or a wheelbarrow.

[@thedarkenigma3834]

Reminds me that before the late 1980s, most suitcases didn't have wheels on them and people had to carry everything by lifting it off the floor.

[@dawnjohnson8739]

Wow, excellent point!

[@MatthewTheWanderer]

Lol, I didn't start using wheeled suitcases until the 2000s.

[@no-barknoonan1335]

This is me showing my age, I still prefer to carry my suitcase and not roll it even if it has wheels. Why? Bc I'm stubborn and for no other reason, and because I never needed it before, and old habits unalive hard. Anyway it's a good point and shows how you can't accurately determine people's intelligence and degree of civility based on their choices for transporting objects, it's more just an object for you to impose your preconceptions about those people.

[@FlameQwert]

even among wheeled suitcases, the Omni directional 4 wheeled ones only became big in like the 2010s. My dad still insists in using those like the single direction 2-wheeled ones so the wheels don't break 😂

[@nvmnvm8821]

there was no sense in putting tiny wheels on your suitcases before there was vast distances with perfectly flat floor. wheelbarrows, having large wheels, have always had a use.

[@Ashley-wf7qi]

The other thing to consider is how much we take fabrication for granted nowadays Every time in the premodern era that you would have wanted a wheelbarrow, you'd need to MAKE A WHEELBARROW Which requires more steps than placing a basket on your head

[@kiteofdark]

It also requires a level of infrastructure to be useful. Wheelbarrows become a lot less useful on uneven terrain.

[@MatthewTheWanderer]

Even now, going out to the store to buy one might be more of a hassle than it is worth, so most people probably just carry things the "old-fashioned" way.

[@Minty1337]

@@kiteofdark that's not entirely true, there are plenty of flat areas where a wheel barrow would be plenty useful, human settlements and farmland tends to be on flat land, so that's not a huge concern. the bigger problem is, well the fact you have to make one, but also the difficulty of actually making wheels and axles out of wood that are smooth enough to actually save energy when using by hand, even if you put in all the effort it takes to make one by hand, it'll probably have too much friction to be much better than a backpack or basket you're carrying.

[@elideaver]

@@kiteofdark ?? I live in the county; a wheel barrow is ideal for carrying firewood out of the woods where it's too tight to fit a truck or small trailer

[@octopusexperiment1931]

​@@elideaveryeah, wheelbarrows really stand out as a technology for their ability to be useful on all kinds of ground

[@pavlodeshko]

i think rubber wheel is actually what makes a modern wheel barrow so good there's apparently a cult following of the thing

[@h.s.levine2932]

Pneumatic rubber wheels, which cushioned the load from bumps.

[@hedgehog3180]

Also being made out of steel which makes them significantly stronger and lighter while allowing them to position the wheel in a much more practical location.

[@Ultracity6060]

The major downside of wheelbarrows is that, in order to use one, you need to _have_ one. Heads, on the other hand, are standard issue.

[@kyotodreams3306]

Duh

[@SamuelSalty]

this screams of anti-wheelbarrow propaganda straight from the marketing departments of Big Horse and Carriage

[@dawnjohnson8739]

😂

[@dietwald]

Not to forget Big Foot.

[@LuisAldamiz]

🤣🤣🤣

[@ebbiilizard8954]

😂🤣

[@ThyBr0]

A Premodernist upload is considered a landmark moment in my life.

[@dawnjohnson8739]

Me too 😊

[@Indoor_Man]

Brain food

[@agibitable]

What a great day

[@twelvecatsinatrenchcoat]

Congratulations!

[@viktor8552]

What a day to be alive!

[@danielhurst8863]

Apparently, tons of people have never used a wheelbarrow. A wheelbarrow is really good for some specific tasks, such as moving loose fill from one place to another. Think sand, compost, or dirt. You load once, the dump it at the location you want. There are not many good ways to carry dirt from one place to another, but a wheelbarrow is good at this. Sometimes, bricks or other things can be used, but frankly, even there it is more difficult than you might think. If the wheelbarrow is not really well weight balanced, it becomes very hard to keep stable. Plus, remember, the wheelbarrow has weight. It makes little sense to carry a light weight in a wheelbarrow.

[@neverstopschweiking]

It does make sense to carry light weight, if it is a large volume. Straw, for example.

[@user-uy1rg8td1v]

You are also neglecting handcarts. Look up Mormon handcarts, they could carry up to 300 pounds. They are useful to carrying a wide range of items.

[@tylerhartman8513]

your ability to contextualize human development in an easy to understand way is unmatched. you're like the Carl Sagan of historians. love your videos!

[@elji94]

My family still owns a wooden wheelbarrow, which we use as a decoration element in our garden. And man, that thing is heavy! The advantage of the wheelbarrow becomes far less obvious if you think about how much extra weight you add, compared to a basket. I believe our perception of the advantages of a wheelbarrow greatly depends on the advantages of (cheaply available) modern materials like steel, aluminium and rubber; but also optimization towards more ergonomic design.

[@superfamilyallosauridae6505]

Ergonomics as a whole weren't a consciously, separately discussed topic until SHOCKINGLY recently. Like, second half of the 20th century for the most part.

[@hetedeleambacht6608]

@@superfamilyallosauridae6505 it existed before but it wasnt seen as a core necessity in labour practise. even nowadays a lot of working tools and environments are not ergonomically designed. PLUS the notion of what is ergonomic needs constant evolution and rethinking (because tools and work environments change rapidly)

[@christianmayr7139]

I also wonder about the durability, if you don't have an axle made of metal. I think the actual use case for a wooden wheelbarrow is indeed very limited. The ergonomics become pretty bad quickly. For distances more than a couple hundred meters I think it's just impractical. The alternative is just going twice or having more people go, or for heavier weights and longer distances maybe the use of animals. If time and the availability of labor is not an issue, then it doesn't really make sense to use one. I recently saw a video of a private/communal gold mining operation in South America today. People were literally carring bags of rocks downhill for half an hour or an hour at 50 cents per bag.

[@Spedley_2142]

This is very much the point. A wheelbarrow allows you to move larger loads over a short distance. It doesn't make it easier, just possible. If you have daily chores then no way would you use a wheelbarrow.

[@nothanks9503]

Wheelbarrow+donkey

[@AliceYobby]

Quite frankly, wheelbarrows require much more *arm strength* than head carrying, especially over rough & uneven terrain. I do a lot of farm work, and I hate using wheelbarrows and have literally taught myself how to balance large baskets on my head for this reason. It's easier to *think* one way of doing things would be better until you're actually there, doing it.

[@jacobpast5437]

I was looking for this comment 👍

[@sawahtb]

Uneven ground makes a big difference. I’ve used a wheelbarrow and they can tip over easier than you’d think and it’s a pain to get it back up.

[@JaGaJG1]

And head portage would transfer a lot of the weight to the legs as opposed to the upper body.

[@colin8477]

I have worked with wheelbarrows a lot. I don't "think" they're effective, I know they are. China used them for almost 2000 years. Every farmer, landscaper, etc. uses them today. Because they are very useful. Wheelbarrows are way more effective for moving certain things (ex. large amounts of fertilizer) than doing it by hand. It's hard work, especially on rough ground, but the time and effort it saves by getting at LEAST 4 trips done in 1 trip is 100% worth it. I guess the exception would be if you just don't have the arm strength.

[@colin8477]

​@sawahtb It takes a lot of arm and core strength on rough uneven ground, but usually still worth doing several trips in 1 with a wheelbarrow.

[@jwag82]

There is a modern day equivalent to this when it comes to let’s call it “the transportation of infants”. People will ask me why I carry my baby (and now my toddler) in a carrier on my chest when I could “simply” use a stroller 🇺🇸/pram 🇬🇧?! Which is basically a wheelbarrow for children. And the answer is that while it might be physically less exhausting to push something around than to carry the whole weight with your body, it’s also highly inconvenient in many cases. With a carrier, just as with head-portering, I have both hands free. I can walk stairs without any problem. Plus, in this particular example, the bonding that comes from close body contact with your child eclipses the inconvenience of carrying an extra 20 lbs around.

[@Meg_A_Byte]

This also excellently illustrates that there might not be easy answers to some questions. Everyone seems to want a clear and simple answer nowadays, but with cultural stuff, politics, etc. there usually isn't a straightforward solution to something.

[@Lakster37]

As an American living in West Africa for about a year and a half (where they have wheelbarrows, but most people, snd especially women, still tote most things on their heads), one of the major reasons wheelbarrows arent used more often here is the cost. The cost of anything manufactured is super high compared to the cost of labor (which is super cheap). The most common place I see both being used is hauling water from the closest eater pump to your house, so here I think the biggest barrier is cost. Some will also use bicycles or even motorcycles and occasionally motorcars to do this now as well. Also, while wheelbarrows are good for certain scenarios like construction (which is the typical use case here) or hauling over short distances, they're not that practical for many other scenarios, especially over dirt roads that get washed out every year during the rainy season.

[@pax6833]

Okay but then why wheelbarrow in China, where human labor is even cheaper/more plentiful and monsoons damage roads even more?

[@Vangard21]

It might just come down to distance and scale. By 2AD the Han Chinese had an estimated 57 million people and covered 6 million square kilometers. At least some of their farmers, and merchants, needed to move a lot of goods long distances. Few large unified empires existed through most of Africa's history, especially sub-Saharan. And around the Saharan - just use camels.

[@hetedeleambacht6608]

@@pax6833 i think construction works is the key. For building big cities , palaces and roads. You dont have that traditionally in africa, or much less (from what i know, correct me if im wrong). The wheelbarrow lends itself for carrying heavy things over relative short distances indeed

[@tommeliusbthaprofit6157]

​@@pax6833I doubt labor is cheaper in China than West Africa

[@raffriff42]

Plus, a woman carrying things on her head just looks hot. Does this need explaining? It keeps the back straight and makes the hips sway. 😉Still don’t believe me? If I’m lying, why do charm schools teach girls to carry books on their heads??

[@raa836]

I really like this one. It's going to have me thinking and daydreaming while washing dishes or driving for the next few weeks, about how you said for most generations they may not have seen a single technology introduced during their lifetime.

[@cupsoup7244]

He’s first

[@jamisons9971]

@@kanight98he released it early on Patreon

[@Nohandleentered]

@@jamisons9971 why are you covering up time travel?

[@MatthewTheWanderer]

@@jamisons9971 But, how do Patreon comments show up on KZbin?

[@MatthewTheWanderer]

Yeah, it's weird for us in the modern era to think about technology not changing for generations on end, when it changes almost constantly now.

[@13krava]

Someone who can make me watch a video about wheelbarrows is really a special man. You sir are a wonderful person, quietly addressing the prejudice in the world and helping us all to see that there is a lot more connecting us than dividing. Fantastic video as always. Greetings from Croatia

[@stephena1196]

One of the most interring books I've read was on the history of the potato. Bizarrely some thought it a bad thing, reasons from it wasn't mentioned in the Bible, to potatoes making poor people lazy because they could grow more food with less effort than wheat and it meant they weren't obliged to pay the local windmill owner to grind it.

[@julienbastian6877]

Very interesting treatment of the subject. I think that to add a layer of illustrative comprehension you could ask yourself like "why don't I use a wheelbarrow to go grocery shopping ?"

[@JakeHalsallIsGreat]

a lot of people use a very fancy wheelbarrow called a shopping cart

[@renerpho]

A good approach. If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Technologies are fun, but not every technology is useful for everything, and there are many scenarios where a wheelbarrow just isn't a good way to carry stuff from A to B. It's interesting to look at those and think about what makes the wheelbarrow such a bad tool for the job.

[@renerpho]

@@JakeHalsallIsGreat Yes, I've seen those. I've even once taken one with me, for the 2 mile walk home. It's a great invention if you have paved roads and don't need your hands to do other stuff. Have you ever tried to use a shopping cart on a farm lane, or while you're pushing a baby stroller?

[@JakeHalsallIsGreat]

@@renerpho My point was that we do use a form of wheelbarrow-type thing to go grocery shopping

[@edwardlulofs444]

You are moving a bulky load across smooth floors and pavement so wheeled baskets work best. You bet.

[@connorparrish7002]

One thing I never realized about history until fairly recently is that there are so many ifs in it and there are so few ways to get facts and sometimes facts come from the strangest things. Like when people figured out weaving, wheel barrows, ox-carts, bowls, furniture, etc, tell us a lot about what's going on in a certain place at a certain time. It's all a really complex and frustrating puzzle. So friggen cool.

[@the_real_Kurt_Yarish]

I too recall noticing this conceptualization of historical context, but you'd think it would come more easily to us considering... well, the same phenomenon still happens and is happening in modern (or relatively modern) times, too. Our modern technology is shaped by context just as it always was, only in differing ways.

[@AB-wf8ek]

I was helping a friend with some yardwork, moving a pile of sticks. Her and her husband started carrying them by hand. I asked if they had a tarp, and came up with the idea to load the tarp and carry the tarp together. She literally thought I was a genius, but I brushed it off as no big deal. Later when I was looking through one of her gardening books, there was a large illustration showing how to use a tarp to carry large loads. People can just as easily not recognize an obvious solution, as they can think it's obvious in hindsight.

[@SeattlePioneer]

> I'll rake fall leaves onto a tarp and then drag it to the compost heap, where it's easily unloaded. Why carry the tarp when you can drag it? (although I'm sure there can be reasons.)

[@gorgo4910]

@@SeattlePioneerif you have to drag it over pavement/rocky ground it wears holes almost instantly. I use a tarp to haul leaves in the fall but make sure my route through the yard doesn’t cross the driveway or I have to patch my tarp. 1 tarp = about 4 wheelbarrow loads 🙂

[@TheYeIIowDucK]

It's nice when a video's ultimate point is just "I don't know"

[@jacobpast5437]

I live in a big European city. Like all Europeans we do get around a lot on foot (shopping, errands, even walking the dog) and wheelbarrows are a huge thing here. Basically everyone has one, but you can also download the app and get a Rent-A-Barrow at every corner. There are so many wheelbarrows around that sometimes the side walks get kind of congested and navigating your barrow can get difficult. In some areas in the inner city there are even designated _wheelbarrows only_ lanes right on the street. One of the main coming-of-age rituals is getting your first own proper wheelbarrow for pushing your stuff to school - I still remember mine: it was bright red with shining white handles and a shining white tire! What a proud day that was when I put all my school stuff and my lunch into my very own wheelbarrow and went off to my first day in school. Because of our predilection for wheelbarrows it's really easy to recognize tourists here in town, and though it's not very polite a lot of locals scoff at foreigners walking around with those old fashioned backpacks - 5500 years after the invention of the wheel 🤦🏻

[@jrisner6535]

Lol😂

[@CraigStCyrPlus]

jesus christ man

[@Trenz0]

This is so much effort, I'm starting to believe you

[@CraigStCyrPlus]

@@Trenz0 He lost me at bright red.

[@cnawan]

You jest, but substitute cargo bicycle for wheelbarrow and you're literally describing the Netherlands etc :) I guess the medieval equivalent would be the handcart

[@ALMcK70]

What is this great video really about? He adroitly corrects logical fallacies-errors in reasoning. Great stuff.

[@paulbreen8533]

Wheelbarrows require a lot of effort to move them over rough, uneven ground. Their utility is overestimated.

[@studgerbil9081]

absolutely. their utility is in moving very heavy loads. for light, everyday loads, carrying is more efficient. That's why Rube Goldberg inventions are so funny ... he vastly overcomplicated a simple task.

[@MatthewTheWanderer]

Absolutely! Plus, 4-wheeled carts are much easier to use, anyway.

[@Breakfast_of_Champions]

And not even solid rubber wheels, inflatables far in the future.

[@colin8477]

I've used wheelbarrows a lot on rough uneven ground and I don't think their utility is overestimated at all. Unless you're dealing with steep hills or swampy areas or something like that, it is definetely worth the effort of using a wheelbarrow rather that going back and forth carrying buckets. It saves a ton of time and energy even on rough ground.

[@colin8477]

​@@MatthewTheWanderer4 wheeled carts are way easier to use on flat ground, but a wheelbarrow works pretty well on rough uneven ground

[@ZauberbergV]

I love this guy’s videos. His hair is also distractingly spherical.

[@dikathemas6713]

OMG I CANNOT UNSEE IT

[@agibitable]

honestly jealous of the magnificent 'do

[@scholterstag3856]

It's definitely intriguing and I want to know more about the texture of his hair. Like in the "Alaska Purchase" video it looks like he's rocking an Afro like he has curly hair but in the "Persia or Iran?" video you can see that is hair pretty straight.

[@marinieves9717]

Ajjajajaja, the same​@@dikathemas6713

[@joanhuffman2166]

Hmm, I suppose that's where the name roundhead came from (the parliamentary forces under Cromwell).

[@FunnyLittleFella]

As someone who does a lot of manual labor outdoors and owns a wheelbarrow I honestly think the answer might be just because we have a tool that doesn't mean we always use it. I move firewood between my house and the woodshed behind the house somewhat frequently. Sometimes I carry a few logs in my arms and just go back and forth multiple trips, and sometimes I load the logs into the wheel barrow and do it in just a few trips. Using the wheelbarrow doesn't make the job all that much faster or easier, but it doesn't make it slower or more difficult either, so in the end it honestly just depends on how I feel on any given day. Some days I'll use the wheelbarrow without giving it a second thought, and then other days I'll completely forget using the wheelbarrow was even an option. So, yeah, I think on a wider scale the answer is just that humans don't act in a uniform manner and if we just don't want to use a certain tool because it's not particularly helpful then we won't use it.

[@hedgehog3180]

I think it's fairly universal among humans to make tasks more difficult for themselves because they couldn't be bothered to do something. Like how often do you end up buying coffee at work instead of brewing it at home because you couldn't be bothered to brew it? So long as a task isn't literally impossible without some sort of preperation people will often forgo preperation to save time or mental energy.

[@FunnyLittleFella]

@@hedgehog3180 true, true. I'd wager tradition and routine are also a big part of that. Sometimes we get into a habit of doing something for so long that even if a more convenient option presents itself we continue doing things "the hard way" just because that's what we're used to.

[@wastheman3854]

Teaching absolute facts and teaching how to think and speak critically. Gotta love it!

[@neggit2063]

I'm from Portugal (born in 1995) and I remember as a child seeing women carrying baskets with fresh vegetables on their head. Every one of their husbands owned a wheelbarrow, but I think the basket causes way less fatigue during carriage over longer distances. Try holding a loaded wheelbarrow for 20 minutes and feel the burn on your arms and shoulders.

[@ivanastein2671]

It was before Facebook

[@treeboi]

I saw studies on head porterage and with practice, you can carry about 20% of your body weight on your head with very little loss of energy. Not any different than wearing a backpack.

[@insertphrasehere15]

@@treeboi Actually... it's much more efficient than a backpack. The shoulders are actually terrible at taking load, because they aren't actually directly connected to the spine with anything solid. It's all connective tissue and muscles between the shoulders and the spine. Meanwhile any load placed on top of the head is directly supported by the spine and skeleton. A backpack leans also out behind you, causing a leaver force that pulls backwards, forcing you to lean forwards, and putting more weight on your lower back (and not in a good way). Heavy hiking packs have a belt that tries to transfer as much of the weight to your hips as possible for this reason. A hiking trip in Nepal around the Everest base camp region showed me how the real pros do it. They head carry EVERYTHING. Even the packs that are too unwieldy to carry above their head, that they carry on their back. They use a strap over the top of the head to put the majority of the weight straight down the spine.

[@hedgehog3180]

I think it's also just convenient, like if you want to carry something with a wheelbarrow you need to take it on both the journey there and the return, or you could just pick the thing up and carry it yourself.

[@LuisAldamiz]

That's an excellent point. In fact Native Americans used "extended backpacks" half-backpack-half-sledge for carrying large amounts at long distances. Both people and dogs used those. In Egypt the sledge was also favored, even when war chariots were already in use, etc.

[@studgerbil9081]

There is a scene in "Breaking Bad" where Walt and Jesse are struggling to move a 55-gal barrel of methylamine that they stole from a warehouse. They drag it and shove it around and finally get it to the vehicle. ASAC Shrader is watching grainy security footage of this and laughs and exclaims, "guys, it's a barrel. roll it!" Now, Walt is a really bright guy. He made thermite to get into the facililty. He makes meth for a living. But rolling a barrel is beyond his comprehension?

[@edwardlulofs444]

Yes, exactly!

[@0sm1um76]

Since Hank watching the footage, and the theft took place in the same season, I think it's safe to say that was an intentional decision. Probably to either highlight how stressful the situation was or how indept the duo were at crime.

[@shaunpatrick8345]

He was mocked for his lack of practicality. Try doing that about African women with pots on their heads!

[@cashnelson2306]

Is he stupid?

[@cashnelson2306]

@@0sm1um76…no shit?

[@polanve]

I've never seen anyone go so deep into not just what we know but how we think about what we know. You are a master of revealing hidden assumptions!

[@DJ-1Q84]

"It's not like today where everyone reads all the time." You sir are an optimist.

[@WillCharge]

Only the central middle ages we had wheelbarrows? Wow man really puts manual labor in perspective.

[@DieNibelungenliad]

The Classical Greeks and Romans had slaves, so handbarrows would do. There wasn't much big construction in Northern Europe until the 11th century, and even that usually followed a big conquest (a sudden gaining of a vast amount of gold) such as the Norman conquest of England, after which the Tower of London was built. Gothic cathedral building began in the 12th century, and they took over a hundred years to build.

[@Goodroosters]

And they still worked less than we do

[@thedarkenigma3834]

The 1400s and 1500s would be considered very late middle ages or early modern.

[@DieNibelungenliad]

@@thedarkenigma3834 the 1300s and 1400s are late Middle Ages. 1500s and 1600s are early Modern Age

[@thedarkenigma3834]

@@DieNibelungenliad I mean, where you draw the line between the high middle ages and the early modern age is arbitrary. After the Great Famine and Black Death you saw some prosperity until the Renaissance. What marked the line in Europe was the end of the Hundred Years' War, the fall of Constantinople and the establishment of the Ottoman Empire and of course, Christopher Columbus' landing in the Americas. But until the middle of the 18th century and the rise of the modern nation-state and democracies, most of Europe was still under feudalism.

[@a_blind_sniper]

Regarding the context of a wheelbarrow, I wonder how much has to do with the lack of wheel-navigable footpaths. Modern wheelbarrows are pretty forgiving, but even I have gotten mine stuck in a few ruts in my yard when trying to move heavy objects. If you want to use a wheelbarrow somewhere, generally you are going to be using it in an area that has been leveled and graded. Any sort of steep slope or rocky terrain can greatly hinder a wheeled object, when someone head-carrying can simply walk on through. Could be a chicken and egg situation, not to the same extent as cars and paved roads, but in a similar vein: nobody used wheelbarrows because there were'nt paths navigable by wheels, and because the paths werent navigable by wheels, no one had or thought to acquire a wheelbarrow. Once someone has a wheelbarrow, you now subscribe yourself to additional work of maintaining and leveling paths so that you can traverse them with a wheelbarrow; at a time when most people are just trying to raise their family and farm, the additional work required for this would be friction preventing the adoption of it.

[@TonyBridges42]

That was my first thought. A pneumatic tire has enough trouble with rocks and mud, imagine a wooden wheel

[@hetedeleambacht6608]

The penultimate technology thing: nobody will use a cost-inefficient tool (as a wheelbarrow appears to be) unless being forced upon stolen time, thus slavery, poordom or little other choice of job opportunity....you could deduct the wheelbarow was invented as a result for emperors and kings to make/enforce people to build their grand buildings or roads. needing heavy bricks, for them and their entourage (not necessarily for the workers themselves in the first place). It is still the same nowadays: the big companies create consumer dependency on a vast array of useless or semi useless inventions that have 1 thing in common: they steal our precious time

[@mcRydes]

There is a good article on Chinese wheelbarrows titled “How to Downsize a Transport Network: The Chinese Wheelbarrow,” and something it points out is that they did build a large network of roads designed for use with them. And they definitely go up very steep and winding paths. They had many ways to make using them easier, and there are many photos of 19th century Chinese “wheelbarrows,” or rather monowheel carts, which have sails so they can be pushed by the wind. But when you see these tools you realize they are really not simple at all. So it’s not surprising people didn’t invent them independently everywhere.

[@samdumaquis2033]

I have moved timber wood by wheelbarrow for my fire for 23 years UPHILL and I can ABSOLUTELY tell you that, that same load of wood on my head would really, really hurt

[@hedgehog3180]

@@samdumaquis2033 That's why firewood was usually carried on your back.

[@brookelynf5961]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do more videos on history in this format of time travel guides! I don't know why but I feel like I understand and learn wayyy more in this way than just normal history lectures! This is soooo good! Plus theres other time travel history guides out there but you've done it the best and your videos are my favorite!

[@Cyberspine]

"No one was going to the DMV in the Middle Ages." Truly a more enlightened era.

[@ZeroKey92]

Food for thought: Why are we still using very old technologies for manual tasks if modern solutions exist? For example the ratchet: We have electrical ratchets, electrical drills, impact wrenches and so forth but the manual/mechanical ratchet is still an essential tool for every mechanic, even though the electrical replacements are just as good. In my opinion, at least a partial answer is that, the mechanical ratchet does the job well enough and the more modern technology is often just not needed for the job at hand. This can be applied to many other technologies that are currently available and affordable and probably is a factor in the case of the wheelbarrows as well. Carrying stuff on your head or with your arms was good enough, I mean it still is to this day. I don't get out the wheelbarrow every time I need to move some stuff in the garden, I just pick it up and carry it. Not on my head admittedly but that's more because I don't have the practice for it. If you're already really good at carrying stuff with your head and that works just fine for the job at hand, why invent or even use a wheelbarrow?

[@WendyJoseph-ww8ws]

I prefer mechanical tools to electrical wherever possible. Power bills... Ugh.

[@PMickeyDee]

Meh, there are drawbacks to power tools though, not that they aren't absolutely wonderful. The ratchet is actually a really good example. Overtightening is a big issue with power tools. There's also the fact that there are a lot of times you simply couldn't fit a power tool into the space that you have to work in.

[@ZeroKey92]

@@PMickeyDee Over tightening is only a problem if you set the torque setting wrong on your tool or if it doesn't have that option. Most electric drills have torque settings. The issue is more often the fact that the impact gun is used for everything. Though I will agree that torquing something to spec with a power tool is nearly impossible except if you spend a load of money on a powered torque wrench. Oh, and if you don't know what 10Nm feels like you can over torque with your hands just as well as with a power tool. With the size issue I'd agree to a point. There are fairly small electric ratchets now, not quite as small as mechanical ones but fairly close.

[@dmacarthur5356]

Try to use an electric ratchet to change the spark plug on a #4 cylinder on a Subaru boxer engine and you will soon realize that hand tools still have a place in the modem world 😂

[@hedgehog3180]

I think the simple answer is just convenience, power tools need to be charged and you need to actually go get a wheelbarrow and load it to actually use it. In both cases if you don't absolutely need it there's no reason to use it compared to the convenience of a simple tool or just carrying it yourself. This would have been double the case for if you needed to carry something fairly far away, imagine how inconvenient it would be to carry a wheelbarrow all the way to a well just to fill up some jugs with water and then go back compared to just carrying everything yourself and not having to worry about anything tipping over.

[@frostebyte]

Sir, I f***ing love your videos. You remind me of the best teachers I ever had and the most respectful people I've known. Plus you've nailed the youtube title & thumbnail game, so hopefully the algorithm catches on soon.

[@petersmythe6462]

Wheelbarrows make sense for one particular thing: short range transport of HEAVY stuff over relatively flat ground without machinery, pack animals, or a lot of free labor.

[@KatrinaTapio]

In my experience wheelbarrows typically work better on roads or over short distances, such as at a construction site or in a garden, but you probably don't want to be bent over a wheelbarrow if you have to fetch water from a well 25 kilometers away, in that case carrying it on your head will be so much better for your back. You probably also don't want to be dragging around a wheelbarrow in rough terrain that might require stepping over fallen logs, holes in the ground, or rocks, especially if the wheelbarrow is an old fashioned one made of wood and iron (and is thus much heavier and doesn't do as well on rough terrain as a modern aluminium wheelbarrow with a rubber tire). Context is everything. And if you notice in most of the pictures, you can see that the women have a small hat or a ring of cloth on their heads under the basket, it is actually a quite comfortable and practical way of carrying pretty heavy stuff. Those who condemn it just for being old fashioned should first try it themselves.

[@GrayGhost47]

My grandfather farmed in Iowa from the 1920s to the 1960s. I remember he had a wheel barrow but used an aluminum bushel basket to feed his hogs. He was always interested in technologies but I think it was quicker to carry the bushel basket than load and inlaid his wheel barrow when feeding the hogs. He did use the wheel barrow for other chores.

[@Christine-db2hq]

“Technologies are only obvious in hindsight,” is such a simple but eye opening statement!

[@Barberserk]

I've seen older women carrying things on their heads around me, and I am in Corfu, Greece, in 2024. It's rare for sure but yeah. Sometimes it's just more practical. Wheelbarrows cost in materials and maintenance, they are not exactly cheap to have around and certainly not ideal for every terrain, wheels can get stuck in the mud, they can have trouble traversing rocky, uneven ground... Lots of factors. I am adding to the stuff said in the video, there are no simple answers and wheelbarrows are not the holy grail of technology. They have their use, but there is a time and place for everything, you know.

[@neverstopschweiking]

Gerald Durrell mentioned it, although he lived there in the 30s.

[@FarmerDrew]

I love wheelbarrows. People on job sites scratch their heads at my choice of plastic wheelbarrows. The best modern evolution in the wheelbarrow is the plastic 2 wheeler. This thing allows me to do as much as 10 tons in a day with the wheelbarrow, because it is so much lighter than other wheelbarrows and I can save energy on the return trips to the stockpile.

[@cjmassino]

Imagine using a wooden one without any bearings

[@travelandrootbeer3850]

@@cjmassino or tire tread. Even the plastic wheels have some level of tread.

[@FarmerDrew]

@@cjmassino I've often thought about how hardwoods liked walnut rub themselves smooth on contact with other hardwoods, so with a walnut wheel and an oak frame, it would be heavy but long lasting.

[@FarmerDrew]

@@travelandrootbeer3850 ooooh yeah that would be the worst, especially when working on hills

[@FarmerDrew]

The hub, or central part of a wagon wheel, is typically crafted from a solid block of durable wood. The hub connects the wheel to the axle or suspension system of the vehicle or cart.

[@DieNibelungenliad]

Up until the 19th Century, most people in Europe walked barefoot; lived in small homes in the countryside with thatched roofs, mud walls, and dirt floors; slept on cloth sacs stuffed with hay and woven rush mats laid on the floor; cooked by an open fire; got their water from a well or a stream; only had a few clothes which they would recycle; slept with their animals for warmth; walked to get from one place to another; had windows with no glass; used flat loafs of bread as plates; ate with their hands; shared the same roof with extended family; and bathed in streams and lakes. Most people didn't have a toilet back then, so they used a chamber pot at home or went behind a bush outside. Life was very primitive back then. You only see things change in towns and among the rich, but most folk lived in villages in the countryside

[@amandajones661]

The really crazy part of your comment is I was born in 1966 and many of those things were still being done in many homes in my small rural town. Many homes didn't have indoor bathrooms or indoor water. Barefoot was the norm and lack of clothing was also the norm. It's so crazy to me to know how much has changed just in my lifetime.

[@MCArt25]

Notably, Europe is a big place and "the past" is a long ass time. People lived very differently in different places. At a time when people in England lived in brick houses and used coal for heating, in other places people lived in thatched huts and burnt fire logs, and vice versa.

[@taimalik1110]

I was using a wheelbarrow during yardwork today, and this is the video that I listened to while working!

[@MakerBoyOldBoy]

Great opening to get a smile. The topic is unusually a rich one. My grandfather's hand made wheelbarrow was fought over by his sons. After many years the wheelbarrow wound up in dry Tucson where the aged wood eventually disintegrated. At the Berlin Checkpoint Charlie an elderly East German wheeled a handmade wheelbarrow with loaded goods past the East German guards who were informed that the old man was snuggling something. Nothing eas ever discovered. After the fall of East Germany and Checkpoint Charlie is now a tourist novelty. One of the former East German guards encountered the now elderly wheelbarrow fellow and asked him what he was smuggling those many years ago. The very elderly man smiled and replied, "wheelbarrows." Actual incident.

[@ehk5948]

"No one was going to the DMV in the Middle Ages" We have to go back. (It's a joke people)

[@renerpho]

To teach them how to create a DMV?

[@edwardlulofs444]

No thanks. There are no DMVs in the outback or wilds of Alaska or a jungle. I will go to dmv with a better attitude.

[@MatthewTheWanderer]

How often do YOU go to the DMV? I very rarely go, and even when I do, it's a quick process. It's really not as bad as it is in California as it is everywhere else.

[@maddiekits]

I mean you don't really ever have to go to the DMV now lol, both scenarios just involve not having a car, literally nothing has changed.

[@edwardlulofs444]

@@maddiekits technically true. But in America the whole civilization has been restructured to need a car. Much of Europe, infrastructure still has some none car places to live. In New York City many live without cars. But the rest of America is now completely built with cars being needed. It’s most visible in Southern California where all local shops are gone. There are almost no local shops. People live in huge expanses of houses and every other need is miles away. I’m very uncomfortable in this urban environment. I’m 1/2 from a grocery store. As a senior that’s impractical without a car. Hardware is 5-9 miles. And that forces homeless people to live on sidewalks near the stores. I am too old to survive in wilderness like backcountry Australia, Alaska, jungles. Cars are creating huge social problems that are not being dealt with. A big trend now is people living in cars and vans because housing is unaffordable and wages are kept very low. Requiring me to go back to no cars is a death sentence for me. Old people are expected to have their own house and car. If they can’t, they don’t live with families anymore, they are warehoused in senior facilities. I plan to be dead by then. That is not livable to me. I think that we are losing our humanity.

[@justinleemiller]

Nobody thought of putting wheels on a suitcase or a garbage can for a long time. In the 80s we just carried them.

[@yidavv]

Coule be because that sort of travel wouldnt be needed and want in demand since travel wasnt as accessible. Wheeled carrying bags would only make sense if you are varrying quite a large load, enough for long tripsz and regarding the wheels, that would only make sense in an airport, wherre the floor accomodates that. Not very useful for much other contexts to carry things you need.

[@WagesOfDestruction]

in the 80s rubbish bins were much smaller.

[@geoffgjof]

Fabrication of wheels used to be much more expensive before the invention of durable plastics.

[@hetedeleambacht6608]

@@WagesOfDestruction yeah, and our rubbish pile was smaller too

[@hetedeleambacht6608]

@@geoffgjof but metal wheels lasted much longer!! First thing that collapses are those shitty low quality plastic wheels on your travel trolley

[@ataraxic89]

I want to add to the growing chorus of responses that points out, in agreement with your video, simply the fact that wheelbarrows are not free. In fact I expect a wheel and axle mechanism made out of wood is quite difficult to make and requires a fairly skilled carver. So that also explains why a handbarrow was also existent in parallel with head carrying and wheelbarrows. Had carrying or head portage is simply one of the cheapest options. I imagine a handbarrow is a pretty nice upgrade from that if you have a friend. And a wheelbarrow is an even better upgrade if you can afford it. But all your other reasons are also great. This is a super helpful video right now because I'm actually thinking a lot about the world building for my tabletop RPG set in a medieval-ish world. It's really hard for modern people, including myself, to imagine a world where invention isn't a useful thing in and of itself I would love if you would do a video exploring the idea or possibility I should say that our modern view of technology and invention actually originates in the ability to patent things or otherwise benefit from your own invention directly. I suspect this had a lot to do with propelling our modern mindset

[@johnsecunde3321]

I really loved the video about wheels in Africa, and it shifted my perspectives/ways of thinking about a lot of things, so I’m very glad that we got a sequel of sorts here, which is equally as excellent and thought provoking!!!

[@BogBogBog1]

Love these videos. Nuanced and insightful answers to questions like these are sadly hard to find on youtube

[@jacobpast5437]

You might like some of the content on Simon Roper's Channel

[@GalaxyNewsRadio_]

I love this dudes Chanel. The most random historical information. Loved the time travel episode and q&a

[@MatthewTheWanderer]

The time travel and Q&A episodes were awesome!

[@mastercontrol5000]

I like his birkin bag

[@lonegibbon]

God damn I love this channel so much. It is so clear that you have not only an incredible knowledge but the limited editing shows so clearly that you have a deep interest in these topics; seeing certain thoughts catch your attention and subsequently listening to you go off on tangents is so refreshing and human. Excited for the next video and thanks again

[@keithwortelhock6078]

Legs can go where wheels cannot.

[@TexasViking_INFP-t_5w4]

Wheels can make you go when you have legs not

[@dawnjohnson8739]

One reason not to use a wheelbarrow and carry stuff on head is the roads/paths might not permit it. If there was no concrete, there was mud. And if carts had been pulled through the mud, they would have left big furrows. That would have made it difficult for little wheelbarrows to get through.

[@AncientAmericas]

Wonderful video! Really loved the discussion of this topic. One thing I'd add is that we should note that common people in pre-industrial societies were often loathe to adopt new technology. During the agricultural revolution in the 19th century in England, writers and agricultural scientists bemoaned that farmers were very slow and hesitant to adopt new farming practices or technologies that could benefit them. As far as the average farmer was concerned, they had methods that were proven to work (albeit imperfectly) and they'd have to ask if it was worth investing in new approaches when they might be a waste of money and effort or worse, prove to be counterproductive. There's often a conservative cultural inertia that any new technology must overcome and it didn't always happen as quickly as it does in the modern age.

[@EdDunkle]

I think it's generally true that people resist change. I lost so much money investing in biotech or medical technology stocks because (partly) doctors were extremely hesitant to embrace new methods or technologies. And they're the educated ones!

[@samdumaquis2033]

I have moved timber wood by wheelbarrow for my fire for 23 years uphill and I can ABSOLUTELY tell you that, that same load of wood on my head would really, really hurt

[@redtsun67]

Had to pause and read some of those wheelbarrow comments lol It never ceases to amaze me how people on the internet can so confidently spit out whatever random thing happens to make sense in their head at that moment.

[@fujisan0388]

I love your videos both the topics and your way of explaining. I also feel my vocabulary and speech patterns improve by listening to you.

[@meatyburritos145]

I imagine pack animals were preferred over wheelbarrows anyway. My assumption would be that if you really needed to carry something heavy, or even a lot of smaller things over a moderate to long distance/during manual labor, you would use a pack animal like a camel, ox, mule, horse, alpaca etc. A wheelbarrow would be incredibly specific, and would probably not be much better than having a pack animal follow you around with everything you'd need to get a job done. So I'd imagine that if people had access to a pack animal, possibly with a carriage, they would prefer those over a small cart that they would have to lug around anyway. I assume that the wheelbarrow was a result of a weird circumstance where people completely lacked access to pack animals, either in some isolated valley or new laws or something, idk. Fun to think about though!

[@ericw1340]

No one wants to say it, but so many of those wheelbarrow commenters were being straight up racist. Thank you for responding the them and using your platform for good.

[@TathD]

They must feel pretty stupid now.

[@animuslite8809]

Smaller pre frontal cortex likely due to a higher amount of extinct archaic hominid DNA. Its more than skin deep whether your fantasy world permits that or not.

[@shawnbottom4769]

​@@TathD unfortunately stupid doesn't know how to feel stupid.

[@rwatertree]

The unpleasant truth about racists is that many people become that way from observation rather than prejudice. While this video was a good exposition on the wheel barrow it still leaves the main question unanswered. Why didn't they have any wheels? Surely there were some scenarios where the wheel would have been better.

[@ericw1340]

@@rwatertree wdym by the first sentence? I don’t think pre modernist is saying there were never any wheelbarrows at all when he says “they didn’t have wheel barrows,” he’s just saying they were never popularized. Like, I’m sure some fucker with way too much free time on their hands made something similar to a wheel, like they found a round piece of wood and put it on to use, but it would be a niche invention and without modern day marketing or distribution, it never was popularized and no one wrote about it, so it disappeared into the sands of obscurity.

[@JPR3D]

Ever since I found your channel a while ago I love it. I love learning about the more 'mundane' stuff of history like your time-traveler video, and I appreciate how this gives us a really tangible idea of what life of the times was.

[@peterlyon367]

He makes an excellent point about how hard it is to pinpoint the invention of new technologies. Even in the modern era you can find out who filed the first successful patent for something, but that doesn't necessarily tell you about when or how it was invented. Alexander Graham Bell filed the first patent for the telephone in 1876. The story of how the telephone came to be is a little more complicated than that.

[@fredwmanzo8580]

“in his new book Pax: War and Peace in Rome’s Golden Age, the British historian Tom Holland (not to be confused with the actor of the same name, best known for portraying Spider-Man!), discusses an account by the ancient historian Suetonius of an event during the reign of Vespasian who was Roman emperor from 79 A.D. to 89 A.D. (p. 201): “An engineer, so it was claimed, had invented a device that would enable columns to be transported to the summit of the [Roman] Capitol at minimal cost; but Vespasian, although intrigued by the invention, refused to employ it. His explanation was a telling one. ‘I have a duty to keep the masses fed.’” Vespasian had fallen prey to the lump-of-labor fallacy by assuming that eliminating some of the jobs hauling construction materials would reduce the total number of jobs available in Rome. As a result, it would be harder for Roman workers to earn the income required to feed themselves.”

[@cjmassino]

Yes, the social context matters. But Holland might be underestimating how long it takes people to find new jobs.

[@DieNibelungenliad]

Does he quote Suetonius? I doubt a Roman Emperor would be so concerned about porters losing a bit of work, especially since the Romans had slaves and soldiers do a lot of work

[@edwardlulofs444]

I don’t think that it’s a fallacy. I don’t want to give up technology but it does cause a lot of poverty- in my opinion.

[@MatthewTheWanderer]

@@edwardlulofs444 Technology is much, MUCH more likely to eliminate poverty than it is to cause it!

[@pax6833]

@@DieNibelungenliad Consider that in rome the grain dole was the third rail of politics. A welfare program for the poor could cause riots if messed with. I think he could spend a few afternoons to give it some thought.

[@notevensexy26]

I liked the way that you acknowledged both the genuinely curious commenters and the bigots, then proceeded to calmly teach everyone history without any hostility towards the people who belittled you. “Don’t get mad guys, here’s what we know about wheelbarrows.”

[@noeltrimm7216]

Right? What a lovely lesson in how to engage in this kind of reaction. I'll have to keep this in mind if I'm ever in a similar situation.

[@yearginclarke]

@@noeltrimm7216 Goes to show that how you see SO many people online quick to cast childish insults when pointing out how someone is incorrect about something (or just a simple disagreement) is completely uncalled for most of the time. Seeing all these people resorting to insults right off the bat, for even just simple honest mistakes, says alot about people. If someone didn't have a foul tone to begin with, why is there a need to interject your own smart alec tone? Just simply point out the mistake politely. It's very childish and immature to attack someone's character about a simple, honest error, and trying to sound smart/intelligent about it. To me, that tells me that ultimately if they can't see, or are deliberately unwilling to admit to the flaws of being a smart alec, that they ultimately aren't all that intelligent as a whole.

[@supitschillbro]

i was one of the commenters you referenced in the beginning of the video. you have changed my mind. thank you for that

[@MillBrookRailroad]

Very interesting. I had never considered the history of the usage of the wheelbarrow. This video helped put your previous one in context.

[@spookymethod]

Postancient premodernist out with another banger

[@hasuxgod4290]

I've recently come across your channel and it amazes me how you explain the intricacies of world history. One thing that stood out to me was that we live today in a society of technological advancement where as in 1200 technology was the same from when you were born to when you died. I can't even imagine not fantasizing about what technology the future might hold. I wonder how the anticipation of advances technology will affect us later down the line and if it changes our outlook on the world.

[@robertkeyes258]

Interesting that the algo suggested this video. I am reminded of when I was studying for a degree in history of technology (it wasn't called that, but it was basically the same) 32 years ago. Now, regarding wheelbarrows: They are greatly useful for specific tasks. If you look at the areas where we now employ them, you will see dense/heavy loads, and most of these are granular: sand, cement, earth, etc. It is not just that the wheelbarrow makes the transportation of the cargo easier, but also the unloading. The other advantage of the wheelbarrow over a multi-wheeled cart is the ease of steering and manoeuvrability. But as some of you may know, the ease of manoeuvring a wheelbarrow comes with the risk of tipping it at losing the cargo - therefore, not suitable to very valuable and delicate cargoes. The same can be said for head-portage. So the first thing to ask is, in areas that had the wheel, why would a hand-barrow be used, and why would a cart be used, and why would a wheelbarrow be used. Wheeled portage is not good when one has to climb stairs or irregular ground, for instance. But after this, there is the fundamental economics of the task. It may have been cheaper to use more primitive but unskilled human labor than to hire a cartwright to create carts and wheelbarrows, and this economics can vary quickly in time and location. For instance, I don't currently own a wheelbarrow, because other than occasional lawn clippings, I don't have any suitable task, therefore I haven't bought one. I was still living in the city when my parents sold our ancestral home and moved into a retirement community, so most gardening tools were sold because there simply wasn't the need or even space for a wheelbarrow and many other tools. Lastly, there is the evidence of the past being preserved to this day. It may be possible that some sub-saharans had the wheelbarrow at some point, but it was lost to society and we have found no relics because of the lack of books or pictures, and the tendency of wood to rot. In this way, much of what may have existed 8,000 years ago in the British Isles has rotted away, save the occasional bog find. Snapping back to the present day and my current situation, I may be doing some masonry of a sort around my property this summer, and will have a reason to purchase a wheelbarrow, and while using it I am sure this video and my response will re-enter my mind.

[@ginalley]

I asked my mother who grew up in a village in Ghana in the 80s why she carried things on her head instead of using a wheelbarrow. She told me it essentially came down to cost and infrastructure, even though it is pretty cheap to buy a wheelbarrow, it is still expensive for someone who lives in poverty. It doesn't make much sense buying a wheelbarrow when you need money to eat and drink and the job of a wheelbarrow can be done by yourself. Also the roads in a village are full of gravel and pot holes that would make using one a nightmare. However, if they were lucky enough to find some old tires then they will make themselves a makeshift "push truck". This was four wheels with horizontal wooden planks on top and a handle, so really a makeshift four wheeled wheelbarrow. The only problem was finding the tires in the first place to make this extremely inexpensive technology. This was favoured over a traditional wheelbarrow because 4 wheels are more stable than one, also they were able to load on more cocoa than usual. If you search up "truck pushers" you will see how exactly this looked like.

[@dawnjohnson8739]

So excellent you posted! I’ve been waiting! Thank you!!

[@minemariodaboss]

Another great video, and you got me really engaged in the topic. Thank you for your work and posting. Easily one of my favorite channels I've found recently.

[@marthamurphy7940]

I live alone, love to garden, and own a wheelbarrow, a 2-wheel garden cart, and a 4-wheel wagon. When I do move something with the wheelbarrow, I tend to pull it rather than push it. If people are working in groups, probably it's a lot quicker to have two or more people carry things, or perhaps form a "bucket brigade" to move things. Probably worn out wheelbarrows or carts got thrown on the fire as fuel. I often find the easiest way to move things is to put them on a tarp and pull them like a sled, because my lawn is not even enough to use the wheelbarrow easily, and it's sometimes muddy and the wheelbarrow makes ruts. I'd guess people used sleds a lot before they used wheeled tools.

[@RedRose-id4sd]

I saw a woman balancing a huge pack of water bottles on her head. Her hands were free to hold her child's hand and a grocery bag. I was so jealous of her talent and strength.

[@Gohka]

Great video and like you say a great entry point in to thinking about how our ancestors thought about technology. Like you say I imagine there are an absolute multitude of reasons for why wheelbarrows weren't universally adopted and why certain people weren't using them even hundreds or over a thousand years since they were invented. Some points I was thinking about were for one, the weight of the wheelbarrow, that image you show of some very old wooden wheelbarrow in a museum looks like it would probably weigh a substantial amount more than what you would be carrying with it most of the time so I imagine sharing the weight with a handbarrow was probably more desirable a lot of the time. There's also the issue of the wheel itself, a stiff wooden wheel is not going to be the most manoeuvrable of things, I can imagine it got stuck quite a lot and using it on a non-flat surface would be horrific. Plus I imagine they would fall apart and break pretty easily, especially if you overloaded it. Also with the ladies not using them, there's always the question of ingrained sexism, every picture we saw of a wheelbarrow was a man using it on a building site, may have just been seen as a "men only" tool.

[@zacharymacnamara5363]

My favorite youtuber by far, greetings from Nicaragua

[@mattpahl9710]

I hope you understand how much we like your videos dude!!!

[@CossackGene]

Wonderful video! I'll say, as a human of the wheelbarrow era, I only use them for one thing - cleaning a stable. The stuff you're moving is semi-liquid and needs to be contained, and the wheelbarrow is the right size. Aside from that, I find wheelbarrows unwieldy and annoying to use. Lots of reasons to avoid them even now!

[@robward8247]

you spoke about wheelbarrows for 20min and i was spellbound youre amazing at what you do

[@Unknown-jt1jo]

20 minutes is now considered a long time to focus on anything, I suppose.

[@alcedob.5850]

I've seen a paper that claimed the introduction of wheelbarrow in China happened due to labour shortage caused by the Three Kingdoms wars. It is believable, given that innovations appear when hiring a second person becomes more expensive than giving the first one a new fancy tool

[@Noah-lj2sg]

That's interesting

[@avholmes5522]

China's history is so fascinating

[@alcedob.5850]

@@avholmes5522 absolutely! There is so much to learn from it, especially by comparative analysis

[@KNemo1999]

Likewise the wheelbarrow was adopted in Europe only after the plague killed off half the population. Necessity is the mother of invention.

[@matthewwolcott5984]

I love your videos. Not much content on KZbin can discuss a topic in such depth

[@JohnRoss1]

I just replaced a tube and a tire on our wheel barrow, I had searched for hints on KZbin as it is a chore to break the bead, remove the old tire, etc. So I think that is why KZbin put this in my list😂😂. On the farm it was mostly used to carry the Manure from cattle pens that we could not use a tractor and loader. The technological improvement was to make bigger holes in the building's wall. This wheelbarrow (aluminum and rubber tired) was replacement for a wooden, steel wheeled barrow which had the wheel located at the very front which made the load about as heavy as carrying the manure plus the weight of a heavy barrow and the steel wheel would sink in soft soil or get stopped if it went in a hole. So you'd only use it if you had too. 😂 That barrow probably over a 100 years now is likely a lawn ornament somewhere and I don't miss it. BTW excellent talk,the evolution of agriculture technology is fascinating.

[@tomspencer1364]

IIRC the Chinese developed several varieties for different conditions. The wheel was usually placed in the center and the load balanced around it. Sometimes there are handles in front so that two people could power it. Even donkeys could be hitched to the front. Along narrow paths in farmland and rough terrain they could be useful and may have been invented to help supply armies in the mountains.

[@Corwin256]

Social pressures are bizarrely powerful. I keep thinking on this recently. Related to this context, I've used head portage a fair bit on my homestead, but I would be less likely to do so where someone could see me because I'm a white man and that would be a strange sight for many to behold me carrying things on my head. I've also been keen to wear suspenders as they work so much better than a belt, but the societal pressure to not wear such a thing means that I didn't even truly consider it for years and just recently when I couldn't take it anymore, I researched and found out there is such a thing as suspenders that you wear under your shirt so that you can have the utility of easily holding your pants up without others seeing that you are wearing suspenders. This all from the social pressure that only old men or perhaps little boys ought to wear suspenders. I have no idea if it's relevant to the use or lack therof of the wheelbarrow in Africa, but it always strikes me how extremely important society and fashion are in so many facets of our lives.

[@edwardlulofs444]

Yes, that is a major consideration! I relax when I am alone to get away from the social pressure. Social pressure is enormous. It can make you kill even if you don’t want to. This is a very important post and insight.

[@MatthewTheWanderer]

I have attempted to carry things on top of my head before and found it to be extremely uncomfortable and not helpful at all.

[@موسى_7]

@@MatthewTheWanderer You don't have enough balance. I find it easy because I have a lot of balance from doing martial arts. Ancient people were barefoot, so they could flex their feet to improve their balance in a way we can't do with most shoes.

[@MatthewTheWanderer]

@@موسى_7 It's not about balance, it's about comfort. Why would you assume I don't have enough balance when NOTHING I said indicates that at all!? Carrying stuff on top of my head is uncomfortable, end of story. Most people who carry stuff on their heads don't do martial arts, anyway. Also, it's a flat out lie that ancient people were barefoot! Shoes of various forms have been around for many thousands of years!

[@edwardlulofs444]

@@MatthewTheWanderer then don’t do it! It might be cultural, too. Everything about humans is so complex.

[@Traderjoe]

My wife is from Portugal and is in her late 60’s and when she was a kid they lived on a farm and they would carry heavy items on top of their heads. She actually still has an injury from that time from when she stumbled while carrying and the heavy weight hammered on top of her head and caused her collar bone to break and protrude from her chest, and it never healed because they never went to the doctor. I asked her why they didn’t use a wheelbarrow and it was because they had one, but it was being used and when you have a large amount of land to traverse, and the wheelbarrow is a half mile away, it’s just easier to transport the load manually if it’s something that could be lifted rather then spending a half hour going back and forth to fetch the wheelbarrow.

[@KinkyJinxy]

I love the way you teach history. You teach it in a way where you can put yourself in that time period rather than reading about that time period. That’s a gift you have.

[@MichaelSteeves]

I love your approach to thinking about this! One question for those who think it is an obvious improvement over carrying a load on your back: How often do you see someone hiking the Appalachian trail while pushing a wheelbarrow? I lived in Kenya for 20 years. Most of the footpaths through the forest in Kenya would be rough and unsuited for a wheelbarrow. Just one data point to go with the insight of this video.

[@thatguySako]

Such an important perspective on the way we present narratives surrounding technological history, and how we see each other as humans. Excellent video as always

[@baconissweet]

I think slavery was also a big indicator. Slavery is prevalent in Rome, Greece, Mesopotamia, and Africa. Ancient China not so much and Middle Ages Europe not so much. Unless you want to count serfdom, which most don't.

[@co.1157]

🤯 Bro, everywhere had slavery

[@baconissweet]

@co.1157 I wouldn't argue that. However the prevalence and intensity did drastically vary.

[@jackaffeldt]

Your ideas and simple monologues make up some of the internet's most chill videos.

[@TheRunpoker]

I travel a lot in India and notice that construction workers there don't use wheelbarrows, they carry dirt and concrete on their heads and it seems to works really well in their specific context. A a student of medieval history it's fascination to observe how indian workers use their bodies in manual labour, it's really helps me understand pictures of medieval workers and the specific body posture used in medieval combat. It is different from a modern western movement patterns but makes sense when i see indian workers use technology very similar to the ones depicted in medieval art and to great effect i might add.

[@graslund42]

this video gave me a lot to think about. great work as always!

[@edwardlulofs444]

Nothing goes everywhere as good as legs and feet. Wheels need an appropriate surface to roll on. Example: chariots were in use and helped a lot until a general set the battle on terrain that was unsuitable for wheels. Sand, rocks, marsh, uneven ground needs feet. That general was an unexpected victory. Chariots were not used as much after that. Also factors pointed out here: you need the technology and knowledge of how to use it to have the idea to understand its use.

[@JT55AU]

Thai is exactly like listening a professor in class. I love it. Love this channel

[@nickscurvy8635]

"No one was going to the DMV in the middle ages" Truly a golden age of human society.

[@Genrw]

omg i was just re watching your time travel video so happy to see the new post 🎉😄

[@thewildfolk6849]

I was in really rural Yunnan once hiking and there were a lot of women carrying items on their heads. At the same time I saw A LOT of little truck/motorbike things with beds that could easily carry the items. At one point, we asked them why they were walking down the road carrying their pack instead of loading it onto the trucks. They said gas was expensive, so they try to carry the easy things (they were harvesting tea) and left the heavy things to the trucks and plus then they could talk without the men being around! Edit: I just thought of another example in my own life. A couple of friends and I were out in the wilderness at a cabin with plenty of wood already cut. There were a couple of dead trees nearby. We had a chainsaw. And yet, the guys grabbed a couple axes and we went to cut down the trees. Had some beers, took turns chopping down a couple trees. We didn’t have to do it that way, and it wasn’t even us trying for some “macho” thing. We didn’t even discuss why we didn’t use the chainsaw. I think there’s sometimes a social element of these things, where efficiency is not necessarily the goal (and maybe that’s only a very modern Western way of thinking). When you have virtually unlimited time to accomplish a task, sometimes it’s just better to do it with others and enjoy that time together. It’s working together as social bonding, efficiency is only secondary