Laundry hot springs (Þvottalaugarnar) in Laugardalur, IS (1920s).

Laundry hot springs (Þvottalaugarnar) in Laugardalur, IS (1910s).

Laundry hot springs (Þvottalaugarnar) in Laugardalur, IS (1905).

Frame from Cabiria (1914) showing Archimedes while constructing burning mirrors in order to set the attacking Roman fleet on fire.

Center-pivot irrigation system at Al Khufrah oasis. Cyrenaica, LAR.

Center-pivot irrigation system at Al Kufrah, provided by fossil water beneath the ground surface. Cyrenaica, LAR.

Qanāts at the southern margin of the city of Kirman, IR.

Qajar era workers constructing one of the interconnected wells on the surface of a qanāt system, IR.

A chain-of-craters, each one marking the mouth of a qanāt ventilation shaft, runs near the ruins of Persepolis, IR.

Mamuthones rhythmically parading to intercede with natural forces (1950s) Mamoiada, IT.