In 400BCE, Persia had special structures that collected water in the winter, turned it into ice, and kept it cold for the entire summer:

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakhchāl
And: http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ach/article/view/13822/12244

> Yakhchāl (Persian: یخچال‎‎ "ice pit"; yakh meaning "ice" and chāl meaning "pit") is an ancient type of evaporative cooler. Above ground, the structure had a domed shape, but had a subterranean storage space; it was often used to store ice, but sometimes was used to store food as well. The subterranean space coupled with the thick heat-resistant construction material insulated the storage space year round. These structures were mainly built and used in Persia. Many that were built hundreds of years ago remain standing.
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> By 400 BCE, Persian engineers had mastered the technique of using yakhchāls to create ice in the winter and store it in the summer in the desert. In most yakhchāls, the ice is created by itself during the cold seasons of the year; the water is channeled from the qanat (Iranian aqueduct) to the yakhchāl and it freezes upon resting inside the structure.