While the device bears the name of Archimedes, evidence suggests screw pumps were in use long before his time. Assyriologist Stephanie Dalley points to cuneiform inscriptions describing sophisticated water systems in the Neo-Assyrian Empire under King Sennacherib, around the 7th century BC. Similar devices were likely used in ancient Egypt during the Hellenistic period. The 'Archimedes' Screw' may represent not a single invention, but the refinement and popularization of a timeless idea that was