Ancient mammoth remains and a Nazi shipwreck: Europe’s shrinking rivers reveal past relics

Europe's summer of extraordinary heat and drought has pushed some of its rivers to record lows, revealing long-submerged relics from ancient bones to century-old shipwrecks.

The remains of what's believed to be an ancient mammoth were discovered Wednesday on the newly exposed riverbed of the Danube in northern Bulgaria, after the river plunged to record lows.

The director of the Regional History Museum in the nearby town of Ruse said the discovery consists of a lower jaw, two tusks and potentially a rib, according to Reuters, citing local media reports. The bones will now be tested to confirm the find.

The Danube also runs through Croatia, where receding water has revealed the skeleton of a cargo ship called the Fulton, which was transporting coal down the river when it sank in 1937.

And in Serbia, the shrunken river has exposed the remains of a sunken Nazi warship.

This summer, Europe has been roiled by a succession of extreme, record-breaking heat waves, which scientists are clear have been made more intense by the human-driven climate crisis. Not has the hot, dry weather primed the land for the destructive wildfires sweeping through the continent, but it's also putting immense pressure on its water sources.

Gushing rivers have shrunk to a trickle, vast tracts of desiccated riverbed now lie exposed, and the crisis is affecting everything from shipping and tourism to water availability and energy generation.

Parts of the Danube, Europe's second-largest river which winds through 10 countries, have shrunk to unprecedented lows.

In Budapest, the capital of Hungary, the national water authority measured a water level in the Danube of 9 inches on Wednesday, shattering the previous record low of 13 inches set in 2013, according to the Associated Press. Little relief is on the horizon, with no significant rain forecast for the region over the next few days.

It's having a serious effect on energy. Hungary is set to close a nuclear plant that produces nearly half the country's electricity, potentially for weeks.

"For the first time in 44 years, the entire Paks Nuclear Power Plant will be completely shut down due to the record-low water level of the Danube. An energy crisis situation may arise from Monday" Prime Minister Peter Magyar said Thursday in a post on X. Water from the Danube is used to cool the facility.

Ships are being disrupted, with cargo ships having to significantly reduce their loads in order to avoid getting stuck, making shipping much slower and more expensive.

Shrunken rivers are also affecting tourism, forcing some river cruises to cancel or alter services. A cruise ship ran aground on a sandbank in the Danube in Bulgaria Tuesday.

Other rivers are suffering across the continent. Lake Brenets on the border between Switzerland and France, which is a big tourist draw, has all but dried up as water levels have dropped in the River Doubs which feeds it. Boats now lie stranded on the exposed lakebed.

Scientists warn Europe can expect heat and drought to only get more severe unless the world rapidly reduces the amount of oil, coal add gas it burns.

"The heat dries the soil, empties the rivers and drives up demand for water all at once. That is the fingerprint of a changing climate," said Hannah Cloke, Regius professor of meteorology and climate science at the University of Reading, in the UK

"Summers like this are becoming part of the ordinary range, and they will keep getting worse as long as we burn fossil fuels," she added. "That is the plain physics of it."

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