1963: This Man Knocked Down A Wall Of His Home And Revealed An Ancient Underground City
By | August 28, 2019
Turkey. Cappadocia. Derinkuyu Underground City. Source: (Photo by: Claudio Beduschi/AGF/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Imagine doing some home remodeling work in your house and accidentally stumbling upon the entrance to a hidden underground city with significant archaeological importance. It may sound like the plot to a best-selling novel or action-adventure movie, but it actually happened in Turkey in 1963. Here is the incredible story of the ancient underground city of Derinkuyu and its modern rediscovery.
Archaeologists found around 100 hidden entrances into the underground city. Source: (travelawaits.com)
Home Improvements = New Discoveries
In 1963, a homeowner in the Nevsehir province near the Turkish city of Cappadocia was doing a renovation project. When he tore down an old wall, he discovered a secret room hidden in his basement. This would be surprising enough, but after poking around the secret room, he made an even more startling discovery. There was a tunnel leading out of this hidden chamber that descended down into a mysterious labyrinth.
Derinkuyu goes down 18 levels. Source: (orangesmile.com)
An Ancient Underground City
What this homeowner discovered in 1963 was one of the entrances to Derinkuyu, an ancient underground city that was constructed sometime between the 15th and 12th centuries BCE. Carved out of the soft, volcanic rock, Derinyuku was designed to stay hidden from view. Although there are several entrances into the underground city, they're all obscured with a variety of ingenious objects. So is the complex network of ventilation shafts that brought oxygen into the subterranean city. Massive stone doors were found that close from the inside. It's obvious that the city was built to keep people out. But who?
The ancient city was carved of rock so scientists cannot carbon date it. Source: (journeyera.com)
Seeking Protection Underground
Because the rocky ground on which the city of Cappadocia was built is so soft, it is likely that early residents of the area first dug out small storage rooms or cellars beneath their homes, because this was before you could just rent a locker from one of those guys on Storage Wars. The cool, constant temperatures would have made it ideal for storing food. But the underground rooms also offered protection when the city was set upon by foreign invaders. Archaeologists believe that the elaborate tunnels and chambers of the underground city were built to keep the citizens safe during invasions. Exactly which foreign invaders they hoped to keep out depends on who built the underground cities, which isn't entirely clear. Archaeologists have two theories about who the builders could be.
Were the Hittites the builders of Derinkuyu. Source: (captivatingcappadocia.com)
Were the Hittites the Subterranean Builders?
The Hittites inhabited the area that is now Turkey as far back a 1600 BCE. By the middle of the 1300s BCE, the Hittite Empire had reached its height, extending across Asia Minor and into the Upper Mesopotamia region. Although the Hittite Empire was sophisticated, the various cities of the empire were besieged by outside forces on a regular basis, and eventually, the empire collapsed. Many historians claim that the underground city of Derinkuyu and the others like it beneath Cappadocia were built by the Hittites to hide from the Phrygians. But there is another theory.
One ton stone doors were designed to keep out intruders. Source: (en.wikipedia.org)
Did the Hittites Phrygians Dig the City?
An alternate theory proposed by some historians and archaeologists claim that Derinyuku was really constructed by the Phrygian people and that the tunnels were built between the 8th and 7th centuries BCE, making them younger than originally thought. The Phrygian people were accomplished, builders and architects. They were responsible for completing several large, complex building projects. Considered the greatest builders of the Iron Age, they had the skills to create an elaborate subterranean city. Unfortunately, scientists cannot definitively date the tunnels because they are made from stone, not organic material.
The underground city could house tens of thousands of people. Source: (histoicmysteries.com)
Derinkuyu is Unique Among the Area's Underground Cities
Although archaeologists believe there could be hundreds of subterranean cities beneath Cappadocia, so far, we've managed to find a whopping six. Out of the ones we know about, Derinyuku is the deepest, extending down about 280 feet over 18 different levels. The tunnel system was deliberately narrow so as to force enemy invaders to crawl through them one at a time, but once you conquer your claustrophobia, the chambers open into huge rooms that could have housed tens of thousands of people. At the lowest level, the rooms are near enough to an underground river that the whole city had access to fresh drinking water.
Derinkuyu had everything a city would need. Source: (peraair.com)
It Is a Fully Functioning City
Derinkuyu was designed so that everyday life would go on as usual even if the population was forced to hide out underground. The city had stalls for livestock, churches, schools, markets, and even a graveyard. When the city was excavated, archaeologists were surprised to find more than 100 secret entrances into the underground city. Like to entrance that was discovered in 1963, all of the entrances were hidden throughout Cappadocia—in surface buildings, in courtyards and parks, in walls, and behind trees and bushes. Most likely, these doors stood open when Derinkuyu was new so that the residents could access the tunnels quickly and easily, but now, they're like creepy little ancient Easter eggs.
Tourists can visit the underground city in Cappadocia. Source: (curiosmos.com)
The Underground Cities Were No Secret
Written records of the time, such as Anabasis by Xenophon, mention that people lived in underground cities in Cappadocia. One such city, Kaymakli, has been continuously inhabited since it was built. Excavation around Cappadocia seems to indicate that there are many more subterranean cities just waiting to be discovered. It is quite possible that the next home renovation projects undertaken in Turkey could be the first step in finding another one of these cities. It has, after all, happened before.
