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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Jon Henley Europe correspondent

Hunger stones, wrecks and bones: Europe’s drought brings past to surface

The low level of the Elbe River in Děčín, Czech Republic
The low level of the Elbe River in Děčín, Czech Republic. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

The warning could not be starker. Wenn du mich siehst, dann weine (“If you see me, then weep”), reads the grim inscription on a rock in the Elbe River near the northern Czech town of Děčín, close to the German border.

As Europe’s rivers run dry in a devastating drought that scientists say could prove the worst in 500 years, their receding waters are revealing long-hidden artefacts, from Roman camps to ghost villages and second world war shipwrecks.

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