It is predated in use by the Ancient Greek τέχνη, used to mean ‘knowledge of how to make things’, which encompassed activities like architecture.
The ancient Romans had many public flush toilets, which emptied into an extensive sewage system. The primary sewer in Rome was the Cloaca Maxima; construction began on it in the sixth century BCE and it is still in use today. The oldest known constructed roadways are the stone-paved streets of the city-state of Ur, dating to circa 4,000 BCE, and timber roads leading through the swamps of Glastonbury, England, dating to around the same period. The first long-distance road, which came into use around 3,500 BCE, spanned 2,400 km from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea, but was not paved and was only partially maintained.
- PARIS — Deep under water, the pipes and cables that carry the modern world’s lifeblood — energy and information —