What Artefacts Has This Summer's Drought Uncovered?

Our changing climate is creating all kinds of effects -- including some surprising historical reveals. Learn about a few of the human remains, dinosaur tracks, and WWII relics that receding waters have uncovered in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/archaeology/droughts-uncover-ancient-artifacts-news.htm

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain stuff, a production of IHEART radio. Hey
brain stuff, Lauren Vobibon here. A rise in global temperatures
fueled by climate change have caused catastrophic droughts from Arizona
to a rock. Take Lake Mead, for instance, just outside
Las Vegas. Lake Mead is the reservoir spanning the border

(00:23):
between Arizona and Nevada and the largest by volume in
the US, or it should be. According to the U
S Bureau of Reclamation, Lake Mead was full to only
of its capacity as of early September. So Lake Mead
has landed in the headlines, but not only because it's receding.

(00:44):
There's also what's been uncovered since then. Five sets of
human remains. Experts believed there could be more remains still submerged,
most of which are likely innocent drowning victims, but it's
almost certain that there are fair number tied to crime
as well. On a less nefarious note, officials also discovered
an unapproved boat ramp in the lake in August. But

(01:07):
Lake Mead isn't the only body of water to have
dried up and revealed some hidden ruins and relics this summer.
Take the dinosaur tracks found in Texas and okay, dino
tracks are nothing new to Texas's Dinosaur Valley State Park.
In fact, they're very, very old. But severe drought conditions
on the Paluxi River uncovered a set of massive tracks

(01:29):
in mid August. They date back about a hundred and
thirteen million years and likely belonged to Acrocanthosaurus, which was
a huge therapod that probably stood fifteen feet, or four
and a half meters, tall and weighed about seven tons.
The tracks are in a layer of limestone sediment that
hardened over time. Or take the Buddhist statues found in

(01:52):
the Yanksee river in August two. The drought in China
caused water levels to drop across the southwestern part of
the country. The plunging water levels exposed a formerly submerged
island and revealed three Buddhist statues estimated to be about
six hundred years old. The statues are on the highest
part of the island reef. At the time of the

(02:12):
discovery in mid August, as many as sixty six rivers
in the region had dried up, but no other artifacts
had made headlines. And there's the team of German and
Kurdish archaeologists who found what they believe is a lost
city in a rock estimated to be about three thousand
four hundred years old. The discovery was made when water

(02:33):
levels at the massoule reservoir dropped because of extreme drought.
The site, described as an extensive city with several large buildings,
is believed to have been Jacquie coup, an ancient center
in the Mattani Empire, which was active circle fifteen fifty
to thirteen fifty b c e. not everything revealed has
been so old or so valuable, though. In Italy, the

(02:55):
river po dried up this summer, and what it was
hiding just beneath its waters was a one thousand pound,
or four hundred and fifty kilo, bomb that was dropped
during World War Two and mercifully failed to detonate at
the time. A fisherman found the bomb on the river
bank near a village, prompting officials to shut down nearby
air and river traffic until the scene was safely contained.

(03:18):
In August, the unexploded bomb, which Italian military officials had
contained three hundred and fifty pounds, that's two hundred and
forty kilos, of explosives, was safely detonated after about three
thousand nearby residents were evacuated. Today's episode is based on
the article worldwide droughts uncover ancient relics, ruins and remains

(03:42):
on how staff works dot Com, written by stres three
wit green stuff. It's production of IHEART radio in partnership
with HASTAFF WORKS DOT COM, and it's produced by Tyler Klang.
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