Euskaraz irakurri: “Iruña-Veleiakoa erromatar zirku bat da, esparruaren hedadurak eta inguruaren formak erakusten dutenez”

Archaeologist Javier Ordoño explained this Wednesday morning on the “Boulevard” programme on Radio Euskadi that they have made a unique discovery in the Basque Country: a Roman circus almost 300 metres long, a facility used for races and shows to entertain the people, the entire layout of which has been preserved.

The images are, in Ordoño’s words, “clear”: “Both the 300-metre extension of the land, of dimensions similar to other circuses found in the Iberian Peninsula, and, above all, the morphology or plan of the enclosure indicate to us that it is a Roman circus.”

The land is delimited by two long sides, parallel to each other, and two short ones, “one semicircular, which would be the triumphal gate through which the winner of the chariot races would exit, and another slightly curved one, which would correspond to the entry of the runners.”

Ordoño points to three reasons why the circus has gone unnoticed until now: “No one has looked at it with the right eyes, because they are not trained to see these things; and the right techniques have not been used either. We have used an amalgam of techniques that include aerial photography, LiDAR technology and drone images.”

The third reason is that “no one had seen it at the right time. We have focused on the differential growth of the cultivated fields, which shows a series of structures. This can only be seen at the end of spring, on very specific days when the field is very mature and the conditions are favourable. We could almost see the cirque emerging from the ground, so to speak,” the archaeologist said on Radio Euskadi.

Those responsible for the discovery will detail their findings on Wednesday morning.

Source: Eitb

Bruce

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