🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Sardar Ab-Anbar — Qazvin Water Cistern
Qajar (1812) · Persian Qajar (Qazvin city governors Sardar)
Qajar brick 5-dome ab-anbar 45×12×8 m with 6 badgirs and 51-step access 1812, largest in Iran.
🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Dujiangyan North Channel — Waijiang Fish-Mouth North Spill
Warring States (Qin to Han) · Qin Sichuan, Bashu
Min River Fish-Mouth levee splitting Waijiang north flood vs Neijiang south irrigation with Lidui cut, 256 BCE Li Bing.
🇩🇪 Germany · Hydraulic works
Eifel Aqueduct (Eifelwasserleitung) — Roman Aqueduct to Cologne
Roman Imperial (Flavian to Late Roman, 1st–3rd c CE) · Roman Gallo–German (Colonia Agrippina)
95-km Flavian Roman concrete aqueduct (c.80 CE) delivering 20,000 m³/day from Eifel springs to Cologne.
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Qanat of Gonabad (Qasabeh Qanat)
Iron Age to Sassanian (Achaemenid to late antiquity) · Persian (Achaemenid–Sassanian) hydraulicians
Oldest functioning qanat 33 km, 360-m mother well, Achaemenid c.700 BCE, 150 L/s Persian Qanat UNESCO.
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Qanat-e Zarch – Longest Qanat in Iran
Achaemenid to present (2,500 years continuous) · Persian qanat engineers (Achaemenid, Sassanian, Safavid)
71-km Zarch qanat—longest gravity aquifer tunnel on Earth (500 BCE–Safavid).
🇮🇷 Iran · Hydraulic works
Kebar Dam — Oldest Surviving Arch Dam (Mongol)
Ilkhanid Mongol (1300) to Safavid · Mongol–Persian hydraulic (Rashid al-Din's Jami' al-Tawarikh?), Qom Shi'a
1300 Mongol 26-m arch radius 35 m, oldest surviving arch dam (first Mongol), 294 yr before Tibi Europe.
🇫🇷 France · Hydraulic works
La Coudraie Canalized Salt Marsh & Bri Production Site (Vendée Iron Age)
Iron Age (Hallstatt–La Tène) to early Gallo-Roman · Vendée maritime salt artisans (Armorican → Picton maritime)
Atlantic salt-marsh canal network (2.4 km, 2-4 m wide) feeding 180 evaporation pans producing 30 t sea salt/yr (Iron Age).
🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Dujiangyan East Secondary Canal (Yuzui East Feeder Canal, Sichuan)
Qin 256 BCE to Han 100 BCE to Qing 1884 (Dujiangyan east feeder) · Qin–Han Shu (Sichuan) state hydraulic
East feeder canal 5.2 km ×12×2.2 m stone revet 1.2 m with bottleneck sluice 8 m: Qin 256 BCE/Han 100 BCE eastern Chengdu 820 ha.
🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Lingqu Canal North Section — Xing'an Qincheng Cut and Pound Lock
Qin (Warring States unification) · Qin Central, Bashu, Baiyue
Xing'an Xiang north 70% vs Lingqu south 30% divide with Huazui spillway and 36 pound locks, 219 BCE Shi Lu Qin.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Hydraulic works
Sadd el-Kafara – Wadi Garawi Old Kingdom Dam
Early Old Kingdom (Djoser–Sneferu) · Old Kingdom Egyptians (Memphite)
World's oldest dam (2650 BCE)—110-m Old Kingdom embankment diverting Wadi Garawi floods.
🇯🇴 Jordan · Hydraulic works
Anabata (Anabeta) Reservoir Old City (Wadi Abu al-Qittayn Cistern City)
Hellenistic to Byzantine 250 BCE–450 CE · Hellenistic Balqa then Roman Decapolis chora
Walled twin cisterns 22×12×6 m 2,800 m³ with 420-m channel + 18 m dam closing gully — Hellenistic cistern-city 580×320 m.
🇨🇱 Chile · Hydraulic works
Pica Oasis Socavones and Geoglyphs
Formative to Modern (Alto Ramírez to Colonial) · Tarapacá / Pica-Tarapacá / Hispanic oasis
Pica (1,350 m, 20°29′21″S 69°19′46″W) is the only living oasis of the Atacama with active filtration galleries (socavones) tapping the Pica Aquifer; study by Lictevout et al.
🇱🇰 Sri Lanka · Hydraulic works
Abhaya Wewa (Abhayavapi) — Anuradhapura Ancient Reservoir
Anuradhapura period (400 BCE – 10th c. CE) · Anuradhapura Sinhalese (Sinhala hydraulic civilisation)
400 BCE 350-ha 3.8 Mm³ tank with Bisokotuwa sluice — world's earliest valve 3rd c. BCE.
🇹🇷 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.
🇵🇸 Palestine · Hydraulic works
Hezekiah's Tunnel (Siloam Tunnel) and Siloam Pool
Iron Age II (Judahite Kingdom, late 8th c. BCE) · Judahite Israelite (Hezekian Jerusalem)
Biblical 533-m S-tunnel 701 BCE two teams meet with 90 cm offset for Assyrian siege.
🇰🇭 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.
🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Zhengguo South Distributary Canal (Zheng Guo South Branch, Jingyang South)
Warring States Qin 246 BCE to Han 120 BCE (Zhengguo south) · Qin state Wei–Jing plain with Korean Zheng Guo engineer
South distributary 18 km ×14×2.6 m hangtu levees 3 m with 6 dragon-tail weirs 42 m and fish-scale carp gates 1.2 m: Zheng 246 BCE spy-branch.
🇴🇲 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.
🇪🇸 Spain · Hydraulic works
Les Ferreres Aqueduct (Devil's Bridge, Pont del Diable — Tarraco Aqueduct)
Roman Augustan (late Republic to early Principate) · Roman Tarraconensis (Tarraco Colonia)
217-m Augustan double-tier arcade (20 BCE–20 CE) 27 m high — Tarraco's Francolí aqueduct masterpiece.
🇮🇪 Ireland · Archaeological wonder
Corlea Bog Trackway Eastern Extension (Roscommon)
Iron Age (La Tène B / Gaelic Ireland) · Gaelic Iron Age Ireland
Eastern continuation (48 m asl, 53°37′N 07°50′W 53.62,-7.84 Cloonbreany 2 Cartron Rd N39 XT18) of the Iron Age Corlea Trackway (148 BC precise dendro of 18-m preserved hall, 148 BC autumn fell) bog…
🇾🇪 Yemen · Hydraulic works
Marib North Sluice & Northern Oasis Canal (Sadd Ma'rib al-Shamali)
Sabaean to Himyarite (8th c BCE–6th c CE) · Sabaean / Himyarite
North sluice of Great Dam of Ma'rib (750 BCE–575 CE) — 23-m cut-stone control feeding northern oasis.