The drought in Europe is uncovering a sinister warning from our ancestors presaging periods of misery.
The so-called “hunger stones” are rocks in riverbeds that are only visible when water levels are extremely low.
Carved into them, ancient peoples left messages about the catastrophes triggered by lack of water and reminders of the hardships suffered during droughts.
The inscriptions go back decades and centuries, explained the user @Batallitass in a Twitter thread that has gone viral these days.
The oldest inscription found in the Elbe river basin dates from 1616 and is in German.
Its translation is “If you see me, cry.”
It is particularly famous because its inhabitants chiseled the dates of severe droughts on its surface.
According to a study carried out in 2013 by a Czech team, the years 1417, 1616, 1707, 1746, 1790, 1800, 1811, 1830, 1842, 1868, 1892 and 1893 can be read on it.
“Life will flourish again once this stone disappears,” reads another of the carved rocks.
“The one who once saw me, cried. The one who sees me now will cry,” predicts one more.
“If you see this stone again, you will cry. That’s how shallow the water was in the year 1417,” says another.
Stones that announce poverty
And it is that in the past, that the water reached such low levels meant poverty and lack for many cities.
The drought brought ruin to the crops but also cut off the waterways through which food, supplies of all kinds and charcoal for cooking arrived, threatening the livelihood of families living along the coast.
And after that came the famines.
In the past, the Central European area, which includes parts of Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, and Hungary, relied on the fertile land along river banks to produce food.
In recent years, the phenomenon of drought has become the most prominent manifestation of climate change in Central Europe.
reminders of the past
One of the towns to expose more stones is Děčín, a city in the north of the Czech Republic, where the Elbe and Ploučnice rivers converge and very close to the border with Germany.
The Elbe River rises in the Czech Republic and flows through Germany to the North Sea.
Up to a dozen of these stones appear in its flow, reminding the local population of a hard period in the past.
Another hunger stone is on display at the Schönebeck City Museum, an ancient tombstone that lay in a harbor basin and on which particularly low water levels were carved.
In 1904 the water dropped to 47 cm and the visibility of this stone indicated to the ships that the flow was not enough to navigate.
In addition to the stones, several unexploded World War II bombs have been found in the riverbed.
Most of the “hunger stones” are found in the Elbe river, although they have also appeared in the Rhine, the Mosel, the Mündesee or the Weser.
extreme drought
In recent weeks, France and Spain have had to restrict water consumption due to a severe drought.
In parts of both countries, the authorities have been forced to cut off supply under certain circumstances.
The French government declared that the country is facing the worst drought in recorded history.
Now you can receive notifications from BBC World. Download the new version of our app and activate it so you don’t miss out on our best content.
BBC-NEWS-SRC: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-internacional-62478604, IMPORTING DATE: 2022-08-10 09:50:05
#ancient #stones #expose #drought #rivers #Europe