If you see me cry
Elba basin, 1417. Due to the drought, the level of the river dropped considerably and someone marked the level of the water in a stone, carving a sign: “If you see this stone again, you will cry. The water was at this level in 1417.”
The following sign is 1616: “If you see me, cry.” In this stone are marked other years: 1707, 1746, 1790, 1800, 1811, 1830, 1842, 1868, 1892 and 1893.
It's not the only stone with similar brands and inscriptions. There are many others in the Elbe basin, such as the Rhine, Mosel, Münnnahi and Weser rivers. “What he saw cried. What now sees me will cry” says one of them; “Life will flourish when this stone disappears” says another.
The low water level of these Central European rivers indicated drought, poor harvests and therefore shortages in the current Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria and Hungary.
The low water level of these Central European rivers indicated drought, poor harvests and therefore scarcity in the current Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria and Hungary. In Germany there is a marked stone that says “Hungerjahr 1947” (“Gose urte 1947”). That's why they call these Hungarian stones, starvation stones in German. After World War II, when conditions were harsh in themselves, the cold and dry winter of 1947 made living conditions even harder. And not only because of poor harvests: the decline in water levels or the freezing of water makes it difficult for rivers to navigate, which are so important in these areas, and therefore for the transport of raw materials.
The aforementioned stone, with the oldest mark of 1417, was analyzed in 2013 by Czech researchers, being finally discovered in the summer of 2022. In general, in recent years more and more rocks are being presented, and those already known are becoming more frequent above water levels due to droughts caused by climate change. Thus, the stones of hunger not only evoke the adversities of the past, but also preach those of the future.
Copenhagen, 18 December 1974 At 12 noon a ferry arrived at the port, from where a group of about 100 Santa Claus landed. They brought a gigantic geese with them. The idea was to make a kind of “Trojan Goose” and, upon reaching the city, to pull the white beard costumes... [+]
Tennessee (United States), 1820. The slave Nathan Green is born, known as Nearest Uncle or Nearest Uncle. We do not know exactly when he was born and, in general, we have very little data about him until 1863, when he achieved emancipation. We know that in the late 1850s Dan... [+]
New York, 1960. At a UN meeting, Nigeria’s Foreign Minister and UN ambassador Jaja Wachucu slept. Nigeria had just achieved independence on 1 October. Therefore, Wachuku became the first UN representative in Nigeria and had just taken office.
In contradiction to the... [+]
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have discovered several cylinders with inscriptions at the present Syrian Reservoir, the Tell Umm-el Marra. Experts believe that the signs written in these pieces of clay can be alphabetical.
In the 15th century a. The cylinders have... [+]
London 1928. At the Victoria and Albert Museum there was a very special painting: in the painting there is a black man, with wig and Levite, surrounded by books and scientific instruments. Thus it was catalogued in the Museum: “Unique satirical portrait representing a failed... [+]
Ethiopia, 24 November 1974. Lucy's skeleton was found in Hadar, one of the oldest traces of human ancestors. The Australian hominid of Australopithecus afarensis is between 3.2 and 3.5 million years old.
So they considered it the ancestor of species, the mother of all of us. In... [+]
A group of archaeologists from the University of Berkeley, California, USA. That is, men didn't launch the lances to hunt mammoths and other great mammals. That was the most widespread hypothesis so far, the technique we've seen in movies, video games ...
But the study, published... [+]
Zamora, late 10th century. On the banks of the Douro River and outside the city walls the church of Santiago de los Caballeros was built. The inside capitals of the church depict varied scenes with sexual content: an orgy, a naked woman holding the penis of a man… in the... [+]
Born 7 November 1924. A group of anarchists broke into Bera this morning to protest against the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera and to begin the revolution in the Spanish state.
Last October, the composition of the Central Board was announced between the displaced from Spain... [+]
A group of interdisciplinary researchers from the Free University of Berlin and the Zuse Institute have developed a complex mathematical model to better understand how Romanization spread in North Africa.
According to a study published in the journal Plos One, the model has... [+]
Washington (EE.UU. ), 1807. The US Constitution banned transatlantic slave trade. This does not mean that slavery has been abolished, but that the main source of the slaves has been interrupted. Thus, slave women became the only way to “produce” new slaves.
So in 1845, in... [+]
While working at a site in the Roman era of Normandy, several archaeology students have recently made a curious discovery: inside a clay pot they found a small glass jar, of which women used to bring perfume in the 19th century.
And inside the jar was a little papelite with a... [+]
Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States launched an atomic bomb causing tens of thousands of deaths in Hiroshima and Nagasaki; although there are no precise figures, the most cautious estimates indicate that at least 210,000 people died at the end of that year. But in... [+]
Born 2 October 1968. A few months earlier, the student movement started on June 22 organized a rally in the Plaza de las Tres Cultura, in the Nonoalco-Tlatelolco unit of the city. The students gathered by the Mexican army and the paramilitary group Olympia Battalion were... [+]