They warn of drought and hardship
Deeper measurements now reveal hungry stones
A period of severe drought affects the whole of Europe. Another alarming phenomenon has now appeared in German rivers: Centuries-old hunger stones are emerging due to low water levels. They warn of drought and hardship.
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“Weep if you see me”: Pacic stone from 1616 to Ticin on the Elbe (today’s Czech Republic).
A period of severe drought causes lakes and rivers to dry up in Europe. In some places the water level is now so low that certain ships carrying cargo cannot go through.
In Emmerich, Germany, near the Dutch border, the level of the Rhine River dropped to 0 on Tuesday. again”Spiegel» Reports, another alarming phenomenon is now emerging: Centuries-old hunger stones are being discovered in German rivers due to low water levels. In fact, these should be completely covered by water and only appear when the water level is very low.
“Cry while reading this”
Rocks are considered ominous signs of drought and hardship: inscriptions of drought have been carved into the starving stones over the years. But not just in numbers, but in words, the rocks urgently warn of the consequences of water scarcity: “If you read this, weep,” reads an inscription.
Another bas-relief, now found in the Elbe in northern Germany, reads, “If this stone sinks, life will be colorful again.” Since 2015 the rock has only existed at Plegeder Hafen near Lüneburg. Other stones found in the Rhine are inscribed “Hunger Year 1947” or “Anno 2003”. The current year will increase only if the record lows. As the journal continues to write, this is no longer the case.
The oldest known Hungerstein inscription dates back to 1417
The origins of some hunger stones go even further back: the oldest known inscription dates from 1417. Other stones date their origins to the late 19th century. The fact that they are already warning of periods of drought seems like our ancestors predicted a climate crisis.
The warnings of our forefathers are finding wide resonance on social media. Hungerstein’s tweet, asking him to cry, went viral: the post was liked 100,000 times.
The rock comes from Ticin, a Czech town on the Elbe near the border with Saxony. Accordingly, the warnings were in both German and Czech.
The Czech Republic is currently not suffering from such a severe drought. The Czech part of the Elbe is one of the few water bodies not currently struggling with extremely low levels.
It is unclear whether the coming rains will be enough to bring some relief to the situation. But one thing is certain: since Europe will be hit by heat waves more often in the future, hunger stones will certainly not appear last time. (dzc)
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