A Roman Circus with a capacity of over 5,000 spectators has been unearthed in the province of Álava, located in the Basque Country of Spain.
According to Heritage Daily, the area where the circus was discovered belonged to an ancient Roman town named Iruña-Veleia, which was home to 10,000 inhabitants during its peak.
Archaeologists from the ARKIKUS Virtual Reconstruction of Heritage Project in Spain, supported by the Provincial Council of Álava and the Basque regional government, employed aerial photography and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology to survey the area.
The large circus revealed itself with a length of over 280 meters and a width of approximately 72 meters, which is about three times the area of a standard 11-a-side football pitch.
The outline of the ancient circus is faintly visible in the aerial photograph – (Photo: ARKIKUS).
Traces left behind indicate that this location once hosted chariot races and other entertaining circus acts for the town’s residents.
This is the third known Roman circus from the northern part of the Iberian Peninsula.
In addition to the circus, investigations at Iruña-Veleia have also uncovered the presence of several buildings and urban infrastructure hidden beneath modern structures in the area, further illuminating this ancient town.
Moreover, some unclear traces believed to be streets, public squares, residential areas, religious structures, and drainage infrastructure have also been revealed.
These discoveries highlight the significance of Iruña-Veleia in antiquity as a stop for travelers along the Roman road connecting what is now Astorga, Spain, and Bordeaux, France.
Archaeologists have yet to determine the specific dating of the circus and surrounding structures, but it is certain that they are very ancient. They must have been constructed before the decline of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD.
