WEBVTT - What Artefacts Has This Summer's Drought Uncovered?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain stuff, a production of IHEART radio. Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain stuff, Lauren Vobibon here. A rise in global temperatures

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<v Speaker 1>fueled by climate change have caused catastrophic droughts from Arizona

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<v Speaker 1>to a rock. Take Lake Mead, for instance, just outside

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<v Speaker 1>Las Vegas. Lake Mead is the reservoir spanning the border

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<v Speaker 1>between Arizona and Nevada and the largest by volume in

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<v Speaker 1>the US, or it should be. According to the U

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<v Speaker 1>S Bureau of Reclamation, Lake Mead was full to only

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<v Speaker 1>of its capacity as of early September. So Lake Mead

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<v Speaker 1>has landed in the headlines, but not only because it's receding.

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<v Speaker 1>There's also what's been uncovered since then. Five sets of

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<v Speaker 1>human remains. Experts believed there could be more remains still submerged,

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<v Speaker 1>most of which are likely innocent drowning victims, but it's

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<v Speaker 1>almost certain that there are fair number tied to crime

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<v Speaker 1>as well. On a less nefarious note, officials also discovered

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<v Speaker 1>an unapproved boat ramp in the lake in August. But

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<v Speaker 1>Lake Mead isn't the only body of water to have

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<v Speaker 1>dried up and revealed some hidden ruins and relics this summer.

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<v Speaker 1>Take the dinosaur tracks found in Texas and okay, dino

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<v Speaker 1>tracks are nothing new to Texas's Dinosaur Valley State Park.

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<v Speaker 1>In fact, they're very, very old. But severe drought conditions

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<v Speaker 1>on the Paluxi River uncovered a set of massive tracks

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<v Speaker 1>in mid August. They date back about a hundred and

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<v Speaker 1>thirteen million years and likely belonged to Acrocanthosaurus, which was

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<v Speaker 1>a huge therapod that probably stood fifteen feet, or four

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<v Speaker 1>and a half meters, tall and weighed about seven tons.

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<v Speaker 1>The tracks are in a layer of limestone sediment that

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<v Speaker 1>hardened over time. Or take the Buddhist statues found in

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<v Speaker 1>the Yanksee river in August two. The drought in China

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<v Speaker 1>caused water levels to drop across the southwestern part of

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<v Speaker 1>the country. The plunging water levels exposed a formerly submerged

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<v Speaker 1>island and revealed three Buddhist statues estimated to be about

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<v Speaker 1>six hundred years old. The statues are on the highest

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<v Speaker 1>part of the island reef. At the time of the

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<v Speaker 1>discovery in mid August, as many as sixty six rivers

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<v Speaker 1>in the region had dried up, but no other artifacts

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<v Speaker 1>had made headlines. And there's the team of German and

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<v Speaker 1>Kurdish archaeologists who found what they believe is a lost

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<v Speaker 1>city in a rock estimated to be about three thousand

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<v Speaker 1>four hundred years old. The discovery was made when water

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<v Speaker 1>levels at the massoule reservoir dropped because of extreme drought.

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<v Speaker 1>The site, described as an extensive city with several large buildings,

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<v Speaker 1>is believed to have been Jacquie coup, an ancient center

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<v Speaker 1>in the Mattani Empire, which was active circle fifteen fifty

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<v Speaker 1>to thirteen fifty b c e. not everything revealed has

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<v Speaker 1>been so old or so valuable, though. In Italy, the

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<v Speaker 1>river po dried up this summer, and what it was

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<v Speaker 1>hiding just beneath its waters was a one thousand pound,

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<v Speaker 1>or four hundred and fifty kilo, bomb that was dropped

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<v Speaker 1>during World War Two and mercifully failed to detonate at

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<v Speaker 1>the time. A fisherman found the bomb on the river

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<v Speaker 1>bank near a village, prompting officials to shut down nearby

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<v Speaker 1>air and river traffic until the scene was safely contained.

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<v Speaker 1>In August, the unexploded bomb, which Italian military officials had

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<v Speaker 1>contained three hundred and fifty pounds, that's two hundred and

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<v Speaker 1>forty kilos, of explosives, was safely detonated after about three

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<v Speaker 1>thousand nearby residents were evacuated. Today's episode is based on

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<v Speaker 1>the article worldwide droughts uncover ancient relics, ruins and remains

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<v Speaker 1>on how staff works dot Com, written by stres three

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<v Speaker 1>wit green stuff. It's production of IHEART radio in partnership

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<v Speaker 1>with HASTAFF WORKS DOT COM, and it's produced by Tyler Klang.

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