Why Is This Huge Yellow Thing Just Lying There?
September 21, 2025
source: Reddit
Hidden amid the overgrown brush of a rocky hillside is a startling, serpentine vestige of antiquarian engineering: an enormous abandoned yellow Archimedes screw. The bright subject contrasts against the rather wild vegetation. It crawls over what is a forgotten monument to a technology that has been around for well over two millennia. Its shape is weird, almost whimsical, yet its function was once profoundly practical.
What Is an Archimedes Screw?
Archimedes screw is the name for one of the most ancient and straightforward mechanisms invented by mankind. Thought to have been invented around 200 BCE by the Greek mathematician Archimedes, this contraption was originally built to haul water from low areas up to higher ground. Some historians argue it was used even farther back in time.
Think of it as a long screw residing in a hollow tube. As it rotates — either by hand or via a motorized turning mechanism — the spiral shape pulls water at the bottom as it moves. Lifting water up through the tube, it’s simple, efficient, and charming in its functionality. Using basic laws of physics, that’s why even today they are used in the management of water, sewage, and modern power turbines because of this particular feature.
But this one — bleached from the sun and half-eaten by the Everglades — obviously hasn’t gone anywhere in years.
A Strange Sight in the Wild
You don’t find one of these bad boys abandoned to nature every day. Its very presence raises questions: What was it doing here? What did it once serve?
There are a few possibilities. Big screws like this one are commonly found in hydroelectric stations or as part of old irrigation systems. They would be found in places like rural or mountainous areas to move water from a high point to a low one. The environment of this particular screw would seem to indicate that it was once part of a water management project. Perhaps it was retired decades ago when the next generation of technology took control.
Its bright yellow paint serves as a clue to its more recent vintage — perhaps the mid- to late 20th century. During that time, many pieces of industrial equipment took on brash, safety-conscious colors.
From Innovation to Obsolescence
Like so many rusting machines, this forsaken Archimedes screw tells a whispery story of progress. What was once a vital part of a functioning system is now an oddity. It is abandoned to rust away and be absorbed into the landscape like some bizarre industrial-age fossil.
And yet there is a poetry to its stubbornness. The Archimedes screw is not an outdated machine that’s outmoded by better ideas — it’s just been used in various incarnations. While this one remains stationary, others spin on in factories and dams and green energy projects around the world.
It’s a reminder that good ideas don’t ever quite die. They evolve.
A Touch of Nostalgia
If you grew up near a farm, an old mill, or any kind of water management facility, you may have seen similar equipment. Perhaps not as big and bright, but nonetheless familiar in its contour. For many, the Archimedes screw opens a very particular species of reminiscence. It speaks to a time when mechanical dexterity addressed massive problems with basic shapes. It recalls when tools were made to last decades ago.
It’s an emblem of curiosity, too. How many children once clambered upon such old machinery, pretending it was the rib cage of some colossal sea monster or a secret invention?
Final Thoughts
To discover an abandoned Archimedes screw out in the middle of nowhere is more than simply a strange find. It is a window on the past — at the lasting effects of ancient innovation and the quiet dignity of tools that lived beyond their use.