Europe's drying rivers expose mammoths and Nazi shipwrecks

The Danube unearths mammoths and World War II wrecks

The Danube, as it flows through Bulgaria, is no longer just a river. The drought has exposed the remains of mammoths that had been underwater for centuries, while the Rhine and the Danube are recording their lowest levels since records began in 1880. The scene is part apocalyptic postcard, part economic opportunity.

Rivers at their lowest since 1880

The figure making the rounds these days is stark: the Rhine and the Danube are at their lowest levels since official records began back in 1880. The falling water has brought to light mammoth remains along the Bulgarian stretch of the Danube, and elsewhere along its course, World War II wrecks that the sediment had swallowed. Nancy ships included.

The value of pre-nuclear steel

The debate is not only archaeological. A ship sunk in a river in the 1940s has gone decades without being scrapped, and its steel commands a price that does not depend on the conventional scrap market. Because it was produced before nuclear testing, it lacks the radioactive background of modern alloys, a detail highly prized for scientific instruments. That is why there is discussion over whether salvage is worthwhile: the historic lows in the river flow, which are already hampering cargo transport, complicate recovery efforts.

As the wrecks emerge, the debate over their fate is only just beginning. The unsettling fact: amid the energy crisis, steel from a 1940s wreck can be worth more than steel made today. History, lying on the riverbed, has gone from heritage to asset. And nobody seems to care about the mammoth.