Hungersteine -> "hunger stones" hydrologic markers of famine

[jim mcnamara]

TL;DR Summary

European stone carvings with warnings of famine and death from the 1400's due to severe drought. They are now visible again due to very low water levels.

"
Carved into the side of a rock, the phrase emerged as water levels continue to drop in one European river, and the five-word translation delivers a warning from ancestors of what’s to come.

-- Allison Finch, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Aug. 15, 2022 12:08 PM MDT | Updated Aug. 15, 2022 3:54 PM MDT

As Europe's drought continues to worsen, the water levels in rivers have dropped significantly, revealing chilling warning messages from more than 500 years ago"

Commentary:
https://arstechnica.com/science/202...eft-out-context-original-story-was-from-2018/

 

[fresh_42]

The stone dates from 1616 and bears a warning in German: "If you see me, then cry".

In a 2013 study, a Czech team of researchers wrote that these boulders bear "carved the years of hardship and the initials of authors lost to history," adding that the "inscriptions survived the effects of the drought to warn".

"They expressed that the drought had brought poor harvests, lack of food, high prices, and starvation for the poor," the researchers wrote. "Before 1900, the stone commemorates the following periods of drought: 1417, 1616, 1707, 1746, 1790, 1800, 1811, 1830, 1842, 1868, 1892 and 1893."

https://www.businessinsider.de/wirt...e-hungersteine-freigelegt-die-vor-not-warnen/