Dams, barriers to alter flowing bodies of water, are among the most ancient and powerful examples of the proclivity of humans to alter nature for their own benefit. (Dams are also a type of construction shared with other animals, that is, beavers.) Before the advent of written history, dams were already being built to provide water storage and irrigation. An earthen dam in the Orontes Valley in Syria was ancient when visited by the Greek geographer Strabo around the beginning of the Common Era. The oldest large dam of which traces survive today is at Sadd-el-Kafara, near Cairo. Ninety-eight meters long, there are indications that it was intended to stand 125 meters high. It is estimated that this structure was built around 2500 B.C.E.

Dam Engineering

Despite their ubiquity and importance, dams are a stepchild of traditional engineering. Premodern treatises on construction such as Vitruvius's De architectura (first...