水位低下で出現　中世の教会や「スペインのストーンヘンジ」

【ビラノバデサウＡＦＰ＝時事】スペインの干上がった貯水池から、１１世紀に建てられた教会が姿を現した。さらに水位が低下した別の貯水池からも、紀元前５０００年にさかのぼるとされる環状列石の遺跡がよみがえった。（写真はスペイン西部エストレマドゥラ州のバルデカニャス貯水池の水位低下で姿を現した巨石遺跡「ガダルペラルのドルメン」）
　環境保護省によると、干ばつが続くスペイン各地の貯水池の水量は、８月に満水時の３６％未満にまで減少した。
　カタルーニャ自治州ビラノバデサウでは、貯水池の水位低下により、１９６０年代のダム建設で水没した村のサンロマ教会が姿を現した。今年２月には、教会の一部が露出したと報じられていた。
　長年、水中に隠れていた教会を見に訪れた人は「これまで見えていたのは鐘楼だけでした」と語った。
　また、西部エストレマドゥラ州のバルデカニャス貯水池では、通常は水没している小島にある先史時代の環状列石の遺跡が現れた。「スペインのストーンヘンジ」と呼ばれる、巨石数十個でできた遺跡「ガダルペラルのドルメン」だ。
　１９２６年に考古学者が発見したこの遺跡は、１９６３年の貯水池建設で水没していた。
　７月に英科学誌ネイチャージオサイエンスに発表された研究によると、今年、スペインの一部は過去１０００年以上で最も乾燥した状態にあり、冬にはさらなる少雨も予想されている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/09/05-11:31）

A centuries-old church and a huge megalithic complex are among the underwater monuments that have resurfaced in Spain as a severe drought causes water levels in reservoirs to plunge.
After a prolonged dry spell, Spain's reservoirs -- which supply water for cities and farms -- are at just under 36 percent capacity, according to environment ministry figures for August.
The receding waters have exposed the ruins of an 11th-century church in the usually submerged village of Sant Roma de Sau, which was flooded in the 1960s when a nearby dam was built.
Normally, the church's bell tower is the only visible sign of the village in the northeastern region of Catalonia.
Drawn by pictures on social media and television reports, crowds of tourists fill the restaurants in the nearby village of Vilanova de Sau.
It has been years since (water levels) are as low as they are now, said 45-year-old Nuria Ferrerons during a recent visit to the site.
We saw it on social media and we said 'well let's see how it is', she added.
Two tourists on a canoe paddled through an arch of the church, which is fenced off to prevent people from getting too close due to the risk the ruins could collapse.
Normally you can only see the bell tower, said Sergi Riera, who came to see something that has not been visible for years.
In Spain's western Extremadura region, the receding waters of the Valdecanas reservoir have revealed a prehistoric stone circle on an islet that is normally underwater.
Dubbed the Spanish Stonehenge, the circle of dozens of megalithic stones was discovered by archaeologists in 1926 but the area was flooded in 1963 when the reservoir was built.
The stones are also drawing tourists, who reach the islet on boats operated by several private firms.
Officially known as the Dolmen of Guadalperal, the site is believed to date back to 5000 BC.
People leave delighted, said Ruben Argenta, who owns a firm offering guided tours of the stones.
Manuel Mantilla, a sixty-year-old from the southern city of Cordoba, was visiting with his wife after hearing about the site through the media.
We saw that as a unique opportunity, he said.
Climate change has left parts of Spain at their driest in more than 1,000 years, and winter rains are expected to diminish further, a study published in July by the Nature Geoscience journal showed.