🇹🇷 Turkey · Hydraulic works
Valens Aqueduct (Bozdoğan Kemeri) — Istanbul
Late Roman to Ottoman (4th–19th c. CE) · East Roman (Byzantine) Constantinople
Valens 971-m double-tier bridge head of 426-km Thracian late Roman water network 373 CE.
🇮🇳 India · Hydraulic works
Kallanai North Channel — Grand Anicut Kaveri North Branch
Classical Sangam to Colonial · Early Chola, British colonial (Cotton)
Chola Karikalan 2nd CE north Kollidam regulators with 12 vents and 1804 Cotton arches, oldest working dam distributary.
🇰🇭 Cambodia · Hydraulic works
West Baray — Angkor Hydraulic Reservoir
Angkor (Baphuon style middle Angkor) · Khmer Hindu (Suryavarman I court)
Khmer 7.8×2.1 km reservoir 1050 CE 53 million m³ with West Mebon island temple, hydraulic empire core.
🇴🇲 Oman · Hydraulic works
Aflaj al-Ain Nizwa Branch — Daudi Falaj Highland Channel
Sasanian to Islamic · Omani, Sasanian Persian, Ibadi
Nizwa Daudi mother well 30 m with 8-km tunnel and shari'a sharing basin, UNESCO aflaj highland branch.
🇾🇪 Yemen · Hydraulic works
Sadd el-Arim Secondary Dam — Marib North Spillway
South Arabian (Sabaean to Himyaritic) · Sabaean Saba and Himyarite
Marib north secondary 750-m earthen with Almaqah sluice temple 50 musnad inscriptions, Sabaean 750 BCE spillway.
🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Turpan Karez (Kariz) Irrigation System — Turfan Depression
Han to Qing (2nd c. BCE – 19th c. CE) · Han Chinese, Turkic Uyghur, Gaochang Tokharian, Hui
Tianshan 5,000-km 1784-karez gravity snow-melt system below sea level Han–present.
🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Dujiangyan Irrigation System
Warring States, Qin to Qing continuous · Qin state engineers under Li Bing (later successive dynasties maintenance)
256 BCE Qin weir still irrigating 5,300 km²—world's oldest dam-less hydraulic system.
🇵🇰 Pakistan · Hydraulic works
Tara and Burj Karez System (Pishin Valley, Balochistan)
Early Modern on Iron Age antecedent (Achaemenid wad?) · Baloch / Brahui oasis with Afghan karez diffusion
Balochistan karez (fog-qanat) field (1,680 m, 30°12′N 67°03′E 30.20,67.05) in Pishin Lora valley between Khwaja Amran and Takht-i-Sulaiman ranges; twin karez Tara (1.8 km) and Burj (2.3 km) with…
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Band-e Darreh South Extension Dam (Birjand Darreh South Gravity Dam)
Khwarazmian Late Islamic 1210 CE (Birjand) · Khwarazmian South Khorasan Birjand oasis
South Darreh arch-gravity 42 m × 18.2 m 8 m radius: conjunctive wadi+qanat 28,000 m³ south branch with cistern 8 m.
🇴🇲 Oman · Hydraulic works
Buraimi Aflaj System (Oman-UAE Border Oasis)
Iron Age to Modern (Hafit to Islamic) · Hajar oasis (Magan to Islamic)
Cross-border aflaj network (320 m, 24°15′N 55°45′E Buraimi) extending the UNESCO Aflaj Irrigation Systems of Oman (1207, 2006) from Nizwa-Sharqiyah to the Hajar-Buraimi piedmont.
🇹🇿 Tanzania · Earthwork
Engaruka
Iron Age Iraqw / Sonjo (15th–19th c intensive agricultural) · Iraqw / Sonjo (Datoga/Maasai pressure oral)
3,000 ha irrigated stone terrace and furrow system with 500+ compounds and 5 km canals on Rift escarpment – irrigation without state.
🇵🇪 Peru · Hydraulic works
Cumbemayo Aqueduct, Cajamarca
Andean Formative (Early Horizon) · Cajamarca (Cumbemayo culture) pre-Chavín
Andean 9-km zigzag rock-cut canal 1500 BCE with zigzag flow-slowing and Frailones hoodoos.
🇲🇦 Morocco · Hydraulic works
Khettara of Tafilalt North (Sijilmassa Tafilalt North Khettara Channel)
Almoravid to Marinid 1050–1350 CE Tafilalt · Tafilalt Sijilmassa oasis Berber Almoravid–Marinid
North Tafilalt khettara 2.6 km 52 shafts 12 m mother: Almoravid 1050/Marinid 1350 corbelled 4 L/s with nouba sharing Sijilmassa.
🇯🇴 Jordan · Hydraulic works
Gadara Aqueduct (Qanat Fir'aun) — Decapolis Long Aqueduct
Roman Imperial (1st–3rd c. CE) · Decapolis Greco-Roman city league (Gadara, Adraa, Abila)
Hadrianic 170-km 94%-underground qanat from Daraa to Gadara, longest tunnel aqueduct antiquity.
🇮🇳 India · Hydraulic works
Hampi Aqueduct and Tungabhadra Hydraulic System
Medieval Indian (Vijayanagara Empire) · Vijayanagara Hindu imperial (Telugu–Kannada)
Vijayanagara 5-km aqueduct with 19 tanks and stepped pushkarani feeding 500k city 14th–16th c.
🇮🇳 India · Hydraulic works
Kaveripakkam Eri (Tank) — Pallava Hydraulic Reservoir
Medieval Tamil (Pallava–Chola) · Tamil Dravidian (Pallava and Chola imperial)
Pallava eri tank 2.1×1.4 km 740 CE still irrigating 295 ha via tumpu sluices, inscription-documented.
🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Turpan Karez Extension (Flaming Mountains North Piedmont)
Imperial Chinese (Ming-Qing) on Han antecedent · Turpan Uyghur / Han frontier
Eastern extension (30 m asl, 42°57′04″N 89°11′22″E Turpan municipal 42.9512,89.1895; Flaming Mountains 100 km E-W 42.98,89.20 500-850 m) of Turpan-Hami Silk Road karez water system UNESCO 1442 Silk…
🇦🇫 Afghanistan · Temple complex
Mes Aynak
Mauryan 3 c. BCE → Kushan 1–4 c. → Hepthalite 5–6 c. → Turk Shahis 7–9 c. · Gandharan Buddhist → Kabul Shahi Buddhist with metallurgic substrate
Copper-and-Buddhist hill city 40 km SE Kabul (3 c. BCE–9 c. CE) — 400 Buddha statues and 100 ha monasteries atop world's copper shafts.
🇾🇪 Yemen · Hydraulic works
Wadi Jirdan East Spate Dam (Eastern Hadramawt Jirdan Spate Canal System)
Himyarite to Zaydi 380–980 CE Hadramawt east · Himyarite Jirdan Hadramawt then Zaydi highland (Yemen)
Dual spate weirs 85+62×2.8 m gabion with 4 spillways 12 m feeding 6.2 km distributary 38 ha: Himyarite 380 Zaydi 980.
🇩🇿 Algeria · Hydraulic works
Foggara of Tidikelt South (In Salah Tidikelt Foggara Extension)
Islamic Berber (900–1050 CE) Tidikelt Zenata · Zenata Berber Tidikelt (Algerian Sahara)
Tidikelt foggara 3.8 km 84 shafts 8–14 m with 12-notch peigne comb sharing 18 ha In Salah oasis 1050 CE.
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Band-e Golestan — Timurid Arch Dam, Mashhad
Timurid (Tamerlane) to Safavid (1350–1590) · Timurid Persian (Turko-Mongol Persianized); Mashhad Imam Reza shrine
1350 Timurid 24-m arch 96 m on Golestan gorge feeding Mashhad Imam Reza 8-km garden canal, still lake.
🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Sui Xingjin (Xing Jin) Canal — Zhengzhou Segment
Sui to Song (605–1080) · Sui–Tang Imperial (Yang Guang–Li Shimin)
Sui Grand Canal western 40-m prism 605 CE with Tongji wharf and Huiluo Barn harbour, Grand Canal type section.
🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Lingqu Canal – Magic Canal (Xing'an, Guangxi)
Qin to Tang to Qing continuous use · Qin imperial engineers under Shi Lu
214 BCE Qin contour canal—36 km linking Yangtze to Pearl via watershed split and 1,400-year-earlier pound locks.
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Qanat-e Gonabad South Gallery (Ghasemabad South Branch Qanat)
Achaemenid to present (520 BCE–ongoing) · Achaemenid Gonabad oasis (Khorasan piedmont)
South Gonabad gallery 4.1 km with 62 shafts 42 m mother well: Achaemenid 520 BCE saruj, 12 L/s to Ghasemabad saffron.