22 April 2019

The underground city of Derinkuyu, Turkey




In 1963, an inhabitant of Derinkuyu (in the region of Cappadocia, central Anatolia, Turkey), knocking down a wall of his house cave, discovered amazed that behind it was a mysterious room that he had never seen, and this led him room to another and another and another to it ... By chance he had discovered the underground city of Derinkuyu, whose first level could be excavated by the Hittites around 1400 BC

Archaeologists began to explore this fascinating underground city abandoned. It managed to forty meters deep, but is believed to have a fund of up to 85 meters. At present 20 levels have been discovered underground. Only eight can be visited at the highest levels; others are partially blocked or restricted to archaeologists and anthropologists who study Derinkuyu.

The city was used as a refuge for thousands of people living in the basement for protection from the frequent invasions suffered Cappadocia, at various times of their occupation, and by the early Christians.

The city benefited from the existence of an underground river, water wells and had a wonderful ventilation system (52 wells have been discovered vents) that amazes engineers today.
Text credit and photos here (original sources have undergone linkrot).  Wiki here. Reddit here.

Reposted from 2008 to add this newer and vastly improved image - 


 - which enlarges with a click.  Via.

4 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  2. The grammar you are so vehemently criticizing is a computer-generated translation of material originally written in Spanish, as you could have discovered had you taken several milliseconds to click on the links.

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  3. Thanks for the article, I have been to this city and it's really amazing but it's very disturbing to walk in it as you have to stay bend over the whole time. I took a video of around 6 minutes long while walking in it with friends.

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  4. the diagrams look like one of those ant farms that were sold in the back of comic books!

    I-)

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