What is the name of the oldest artificial dam on Earth and where is it located?

Answer 1

The answer is Sadd Al-Kafara which was only recently discovered in 2004. It dates between between 2686 and 2498 BCE. Other areas such as Petra claimed to have the oldest dams before this.

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The first dam in history is clearly a major engineering achievement. But it is also something of a disaster story. Dating back to the age of the "Pyramid builders", and estimated to have been between 10 and 15 years in the making, Sadd Al-Kafara was destroyed by heavy rainfall soon after its completion. The experience was so traumatic for the Ancient Egyptians, that they never tried to build a dam again.

This was the site that John Broad, a retired consulting engineer with a passionate interest in ancient structures, was anxious to see on his first visit to Egypt.

"This historic dam predates the most famous tombs and temples," he explained when we met, adding: "This is the first known instance of a stone dam to be constructed across a river anywhere in the world. I'm surprised that so little is known about it."

According to the records, the dam should be situated somewhere between Wadi Al-Hof and Wadi Al-Garawi, some 25 kilometres south of Cairo, to the east of Helwan. It seemed like an easy quest, and certainly an interesting one. Of course, a permit is required for anyone travelling outside the Nile valley, so we began with a trip to the Antiquities Office in Helwan on the advice of Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. When we explained Broad's professional background and his interest in the dam, permission was quickly granted, on condition that he and his party would be accompanied by an antiquities inspector, and that no photographs would be taken.

A sturdy Peugeot 504 with a reliable driver was selected by the two antiquities inspectors assigned to accompany us, and well stocked with water, snacks and refreshments. Armed with a map, and elevation and section drawings of the dam, we set off in high spirits.

As we drove through the maze of roads south-east of Helwan, we passed an enormous steel complex built by the Russians when the High Dam was under construction in the 1960s. Before long, we found ourselves on a single-track dirt road running beside a forest of tall chimneys which served the nearby lime quarry. The land was hard chalky limestone littered with spoil heaps from the steel and brick works, and covered with a layer of fine white lime dust. The landscape was surreal and eerie, and when the wind sprang up it raised a cloud of dust which quickly formed into a seemingly impenetrable white barrier before us. Our driver was obliged to stop until we could see our way clearly ahead.

As we advanced through this mineral fog, lorries would suddenly appear out of nowhere, then disappear again just as mysteriously.

Meanwhile Broad gave us a running commentary. "I'm not here as a tourist," he insisted. "I have come to see an ancient engineering experiment that failed. This dam is the first of its kind anywhere in the world."

When Sadd Al-Kafara was discovered in 1885 by the German archaeologist G Schweinfurth, he calculated that it had been necessary to excavate and transport approximately 100,000 cubic metres of rock and rubble for its construction. Schweinfurth also established that the central section of the dam was missing. "That turned out to be a mixed blessing," Broad went on, "because although the structure was no longer complete, the fact the middle was missing exposed cross sections of the remaining parts of the dam. So it was possible to study its construction.

Answer 2

he oldest surviving and standing dam in the world is believed to be the Grand Anicut, also known as the Kallanai, an ancient dam built on the Kaveri River in the state of Tamil Nadu located in southern India. It was built by the Chola king Karikalan, and dates back to the 2nd century AD.[5] Du Jiang Yan in China is the oldest surviving irrigation system included a dam that direct waterflow. It was finished in 251 B.C..

Most of the first Dams were built in Mesopotamia up to 7,000 years ago. The earliest recorded dam is believed to have been on the Sadd Al-Kafara at Wadi Al-Garawi, which is located about 25 kilometers south of Cairo, and built around 2600 B.C.It was destroyed by heavy rain shortly afterwards.

Answer 3

The world's most ancient, well researched and documented dams to this day are the Jawa gravity dams, located in Jordan. They were part of an elaborate water supply system for the town of Jawa, which experienced a brief heyday around 3000 BC. Located in an inhospitable basalt desert, the city, laid out for some 2000 inhabitants, must have been built very rapidly. It is likely that its construction had to start together with that of the water system at the beginning of the rainy season, if the builders and their herds should survive the following dry period.

Answer 4

It is at Petra in Jordan and was built by the Nabeteen and still in use today