Extreme heat uncovers lost villages, ancient ruins and shipwrecks

In an eerie twist, volatile weather and heat-induced drought are unearthing glimpses of lost archaeological treasures and forgotten history

Hotter and drier than usual weather has given tourists, researchers and locals a look at wrecks, ancient bridges and other artifacts

Extreme heat this year has triggered wildfires, drought and melting glaciers. Less expectedly, it’s also revealed some weird and dark things about our past — shipwrecks, corpses, ghost villages, ornamental gardens and ancient cities. 

The wreck of a ship that sunk during World War II is revealed by the unusually low water level of the River Danube near Vamosszabadi, nortwestern Hungary. Picture: Csaba Krizsan/MTI via AP

Roman Remains

Italy’s drought has revealed artifacts from World War II and a glimpse of life under Nero.

Months without rain and an earlier-than-usual halt in flows from melting snow in the Alps depleted the River Po — Italy’s longest river — to its lowest level in 70 years. The dried-up riverbed revealed previously hidden World War II-era wreckage such as a German tank and cargo ships.

Following a spell of particularly hot weather and low rainfall, it is now possible to see the resurfaced remains of an ancient bridge in the Tiber River in Rome, Italy. Picture: Foto Romane e del Lazio

In Rome, meanwhile, drought sapped the River Tiber and unveiled a bridge that’s thought to have been built during Emperor Nero’s rule. This summer’s extremely hot and dry conditions in Italy forced the government to declare a state of emergency in July.

The Alto Lindoso reservoir at the end of June 2022 remains at 15% of capacity, the second lowest in Portugal. During a typical dry season, a few rooftops may peek out as water levels sink. However, the reservoir rarely becomes low enough to reveal this much. Picture: Safe Communities Portugal

A town stuck in the early 1990s has re-emerged in Galicia, Spain. Aceredo, a village near Spain’s border with Portugal, was flooded in 1992 to make room for the Alto Lindoso reservoir. In February — about 30 years later — drought re-exposed the small town.  Scientists expect Galicia to continue suffering from extreme dry spells. 

Grim Discoveries

Lake Mead unveils a creepy collection of the desert’s history.  The lake fell this year to a record low. Lake Mead — the massive reservoir at the iconic Hoover Dam — has shrunk to a fraction of its former self to become a site of ghoulish curiosity. Visitors have come across everything from sunken boats to dead bodies.

A formerly sunken boat sits high and dry along the shoreline of Lake Mead at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, on May 10, 2022, near Boulder City, Nev. Picture: AP Photo/John Locher

“We could find everything from a missing jet ski to more bodies,” said Michael Green, an associate professor of history at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “As the water recedes, we will find more.” The human remains discovered at the site include a body in a barrel, according to the US National Park Service. The cause of death is under investigation.

Shackleton’s Wreckage

Scientific expedition cracked a cold case in Antarctic ice. On Feb. 25, Antarctic sea ice cover shrank to a satellite-era record low level — which may have helped solve one of the greatest mysteries in maritime history. Around that time, a crew set off on a research vessel from South Africa to the depths of the Weddell Sea, a remote area of the Antarctic coastline, to locate, survey and film the wreckage of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance. The exact whereabouts of the famous explorer’s ship was long unknown; it had been trapped and crushed by thick Antarctic sea ice in 1915.

The taffrail, ship's wheel and aft well deck on the wreck of Endurance, Sir Ernest Shackleton's ship which has not been seen since it was crushed by the ice and sank in the Weddell Sea in 1915. Picture issued by Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust 

The 35-day mission was tough. The team had to navigate choppy waters and still quite a bit of frozen hazards despite ice extent being below average. Using an autonomous vehicle, the wreck was found more than 3,000 meters (9,843 feet) underwater.

Secret Garden

Extreme summertime heat in Britain has scorched the south lawn at a historic home in central England, revealing a hidden 17th-century garden. Broad, ornate patterns can be seen on the lawn at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire.

"Lately we've seen odd markings materialize in the garden and in the park: illustrations from 1699 have helped us identify the lines on the South Lawn as being from a 17th century parterre, or formal garden" Picture: Chatsworth House

Dubbed the Great Parterre, the extensive garden dates to 1699 and was once filled with flowerbeds and paths. By 1730, the ornate landscape was grassed over and because the new lawn has shorter roots it burns more quickly. On July 26, Chatsworth logged a temperature of 38.1℃ (100.6℃) — this was the highest on record for more than 100 years, according to information on the historic home’s site.

Mesopotamian Treasure

A Bronze-Age empire’s urban center has reappeared in Iraq.

From a dried-up area of Iraq’s Mosul reservoir this year, the ruins of an extensive, ancient city surfaced. A team of Kurdish and German archeologists rushed to investigate the site of Kemune, an ancient city on the Tigris River that flourished under the Mitanni Empire from 1550 to 1350 B.C. —during the Bronze Age.

A 3,500-year-old palace has been discovered thanks to a drought near the Mosul Dam. The site, known as Kemune, has been known to researchers since 2010. The expedition could shed light on the Mitanni empire that dominated the region from approximately 1500 to 1350 B.C. Picture: Babylon FM 

The research team found ceramic vessels reportedly containing more than 100 cuneiform tablets. The discovery could provide more details about the end of the Mitanni-period city and the start of Assyrian rule in the region. “It is close to a miracle that cuneiform tablets made of unfired clay survived so many decades under water,” said University of Tübingen Professor Peter Pfälzner, who was part of the rescue excavations at Kemune.

Hunting Relics

Melting glaciers have uncovered millennium-old artifacts in Norway.

In the high mountains of Norway, odd artifacts uncovered by glacial archaeologist Lars Pilø and his team at the Glacier Archaeology Program included a woolen tunic from the Iron Age as well as a Roman-style shoe and a well-preserved arrow with fletching still attached from the years 300 to 600. The arrow is a relic from a reindeer hunting site.

"What a monster arrowhead! We found this heavy arrowhead at the edge of the melting ice on a reindeer hunting site. The wooden arrow shaft still lay beside it. Only one of its kind from the ice, but there are two similar arrowheads from 6th century AD burials in the lowlands. Wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of this one." Picture: Glacier Archaeology Program in Innlandet for Caroline Delaney Outdoors

“With the continued melt of high mountain ice, we expect to see more sites appearing and even older finds melting out,” said Pilø, whose team has found thousands of Iron Age and the Early Medieval Period items from ice sites across Norway over the last 15 years. “We are melting back in time, as the ice retreats.”

— Bloomberg