‘Hunger Stones’ Resurface in Europe, Bringing Centuries-Old Warnings Back Into View as Rivers Hit Historic Lows

As drought exposes stretches of riverbed in central Europe, markers carved by past generations to record low water levels are emerging once again

Christian Thorsberg | Daily Correspondent

August 26, 2026 7:45 a.m.

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For centuries, communities along rivers in central Europe marked exceptionally low water levels on exposed rocks, creating an enduring record of conditions that could disrupt navigation, agriculture and livelihoods.

Known as hunger stones, these objects are among the most unusual surviving physical records of severe droughts in the region. The stones bear dates spanning the 15th through 20th centuries; some were marked repeatedly, with decades passing between each bout of dry weather.

A hunger stone along the Elbe River in the Oberposta district of Pirna, Germany, around 15 miles southeast of Dresden, resurfaced earlier this month. It features multiple inscriptions marking low-water years, the earliest of which is dated to 1707, and is “one of the best-known and largest of its kind” in the country, Jesús Maturana and Nela Heidner report for Euronews.

Other recently revealed hunger stones have been spotted in Leverkusen, a small city south of Cologne, near the mouth of a tributary of the Rhine River, and Dolni Zleb, a village close to the Czech Republic’s border with Germany.

Hunger stones vary in size, age, location and inscription, but common themes recur. “Usually there are initials of names and the year. Sometimes there is also an engraving of the water line,” Vlastimil Pažourek, director of the Decin Regional Museum in the Czech Republic, told Al Jazeera’s Ruairi Casey in 2022. “Pointing out the dry years also had its practical meaning, drawing attention to risks for the future. The name ‘hunger stone’ highlighted the lack of potential livelihood for the poor day laborers who towed ships and worked on them in times of drought.”

In the summer of 1904, F. Mayer, a boatman and innkeeper in Decin, had a chilling inscription carved into a piece of sandstone along the Elbe: “Wenn du mich siehst, dann weine,” or “If you see me, weep.” The message was perhaps intentionally reminiscent of a nearby stone that bore the words “We cried—we cry—and you will cry,” Bernd Gross, a researcher who has written about Europe’s hunger stones, tells Deutsche Welle’s Brenda Haas.

Mayer apparently set up a beer tap and charged curious tourists to view the stone. “Day after day, groups gather on the rock; everyone wants to set foot on it at least once,” the Reichenberger Zeitung reported in August 1904, per Deutsche Welle. “However, the markings carved into the sandstone are likely to lose their visibility due to this frequent trampling.”

Mayer’s inscription isn’t the only one carved on the surface of the Decin stone. Markings on the boulder testify to low water levels across several centuries with an impressive level of accuracy. A 2020 study published in the journal Climate of the Past found that 11 measurements inscribed on the stone between 1868 and 1957 closely matched figures recorded elsewhere, differing by only a few centimeters.

Christian Thorsberg is an environmental writer and photographer from Chicago. His work, which often centers on freshwater issues, climate change and subsistence, has appeared in Circle of Blue, Sierra magazine, Discover magazine and Alaska Sporting Journal.