Always thought it would be pretty hard to coordinate a group to be able to focus on one spot. Especially at what is probably a moving target.
They are still using Archimedes Screws to draw water from the Nile in Egypt. At least they were in the early 1980’s.
I think the Archimedean screw was probably attributed to him, but antedates him by some years. The Egyptians didn’t invent it, apparently, they used (in ancient times, and still do) the shadoof (sp?).