In pictures: In Europe, when rivers dry up, World War II warship, woolly mammoth fossils & bridges emerge

Among the most striking finds are German World War II warships emerging from the Danube near Serbia's Prahovo.

Europe's historic drought is doing more than disrupting shipping and water supplies. Record-low water levels in the Danube and Rhine, driven by prolonged heat and a lack of rainfall, are exposing traces of the continent's past that had remained hidden beneath the water for decades, and, in some cases, millennia.

A drone view shows a sunken German warship from World War II, exposed due to low Danube River levels caused by drought and extreme heat.

Among the most striking finds are German World War II warships emerging from the Danube near Serbia's Prahovo and Ice Age woolly mammoth remains uncovered in Bulgaria.

Along the Rhine, low water has once again disrupted river traffic and revived memories of the river's infamous “hunger stones”, markers historically associated with severe drought and hardship.

A man walks on the sandbank by the wreckage of a WWII German warship, emerged due to the drought, in front of Djerdap II, a large dam on the Danube River, between Romania and Serbia, near Prahovo, Serbia.

The wreckage of a WWII German warship emerges, due to the drought, in front of Djerdap II, a large dam on the Danube River, between Romania and Serbia, near Prahovo, Serbia. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

A scientist from Rousse's Regional Historical Museum examining remains of an ancient mammoth. (AFP)

Woolly mammoths co-existed with early humans who hunted the cold-resistant herbivores for food and used their tusks and bones as tools. Specialists have so far identified a jaw bone, fragments of tusks, part of a shoulder blade and a femur with its articular head among the stash, AFP reported.

The remains of what historians believe is an ancient mammoth, which emerged after the Danube River's water level receded to a record low, lie on the riverbed near the village of Ryahovo, Slivo pole municipality, Bulgaria. (REUTERS)

Remains of the post-World War II Patton Bridge are exposed along the Rhine River during a heat wave and a prolonged drought, across from the Cologne Cathedral in Cologne, Germany. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

An old eel barge shipwreck is exposed in the Rhine River due to low water levels, a heat wave and prolonged drought near Neuss, Germany, (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

A sign on a Rhine ferry reads "Ferry suspended due to low water levels" during prolonged dry weather across Europe, which is causing massive consequences for German industry, in Kaub, Germany, (REUTERS)

Recreational boats lie aground in the nearly dry Mühlarm, a side channel of the Rhine, amid low water levels in Nackenheim, Germany, (Andreas Arnold/DPA via AP)