Derinkuyu, the underground city of Cappadocia ...

paulocouto (52)in #civilization • 8 years ago (edited)

Let's talk about Derinkuyu ...

While remade his home in 1963, a man in the province of Nevsehir, Cappadocia, Turkey, knocked down a wall of his basement. Everything seemed normal until it occurs start knocking down a wall ... What he found was a tunnel ...

What he had found, without knowing it, was the ancient underground city of Derinkuyu which was entirely carved in stone below Cappadocia, reaching about 60 meters deep. The city had 18 levels, and included residences, churches, warehouses, wineries, and even a school. It was designed to house about 20,000 people, as well as a considerable number of animals. It has openings for the various surface and discrete inputs as found behind the tunnel wall. These hidden entries suggest that the city was built as a precaution, in order to house the population in times of war or natural disaster for a long time.

The elaborate underground city was connected by stairs and passageways, and even connected to other underground cities through tunnels that stretched for kilometers. Believed to have been originally built during the 7th and 8th centuries BC, but was commonly used until the mid-twelfth century.
Most Derinkuyu entries are hidden, and each of the five levels can be closed separately with massive stone doors. The space for livestock and shops as well as an axis of 55 meters used for this purpose means that the inhabitants planned to stay there for a long time.

No doubt this massive underground city, able to accommodate thousands of people with all the amenities for long periods of time, must have been of extreme importance for the people of this region of Cappadocia ...
But there remains a doubt, were hiding what?