It’s not every day that you break down your house’s walls just to discover a mysterious room behind one, which turns out to be a secret tunnel leading to a whole city beneath the ground. But this is exactly what occurred to one guy in 1963 while remodeling his home in the Turkish province of Nevşehir, in the Cappadocia area of Anatolia. That is how the ancient city of Derinkuyu came to be found.
Cappadocia, as a territory, is in reality a tremendously intriguing area. Its landscape was built over millions of years by tumultuous volcanic processes on the Anatolia plateau, which rises a little more than half a mile above sea level. These layers of volcanic ash aided in the development of the famed cone-shaped rock formations of Cappadocia.
It turns out that the region is just as spectacular below ground as it is above. Archaeologists believe that, in addition to Derinkuyu, there may be hundreds more villages slumber forgotten beneath the fields of Cappadocia, six of which have so far been discovered.
Archaeologists are unsure when individuals began digging out the underground village. According to one theory, the Hittites began the first construction operations on Derinkuyu as early as the 15th century B.C.
Another group places the date a little later, between the 12th and 8th centuries B.C., implying that the underground metropolis was created by the Phrygians, the Hittites’ enemies. Some parts of the village are thought to have been erected later, during the Byzantine period.
Nonetheless, the gaps and carvings in the rocks were not only excellent for keeping food because they could maintain a consistent temperature, but they were also excellent for providing sanctuary in an area that was regularly susceptible to foreign invasions and attacks.
The 4th century B.C. Greek philosopher Xenophon was among the first to present written reports of the people who prospered in this section of Anatolia. He mentioned that they lived in dwellings dug below ground level, large enough to house whole families as well as cattle and food supplies.
Derinkuyu is an excellent example of one of these underground settlements. It can reach a depth of 250 feet into the earth and was planned to house 20,000 people. This multi-layered subterranean metropolis has everything its inhabitants needed in times of danger.
It is neither the largest nor the oldest of the area’s recognized underground cities. It is, nevertheless, the deepest, not only in Cappadocia but also in the globe, with 18 stories. Derinkuyu means “deep well” in Chinese.
Only eight floors are accessible now, and archaeologists and scholars have discovered a variety of dwellings: kitchens and separate facilities for storing food, oil, and wine; baths and sleeping quarters. Greater constructions, which are thought to have had practical purposes for larger groups of people, have also been discovered. Even the tiniest gaps in the rocks were used, most commonly as graves.
If you’re wondering how people breathed down there, they had an ingenious system comprised of dozens of ventilation shafts that transported air from the surface, which was then disseminated by thousands of smaller tubes throughout the community.
Water? An subterranean river provided an ideal source of drinking water, which was spread across the area by a simple irrigation system.
Security precautions were also in place within Derinkuyu. Its ancient architects used large stone doors placed in such a way that each level could be locked on its own in the event of an urgent threat. Furthermore, escape passages have been discovered on each level, allowing the residents of Derinkuyu to flee in the event of an unusual incident.
Last but not least, a roughly five-mile-long conduit connects this underground city to another, Kaymakli, which is possibly Cappadocia’s largest. This points to the possibility of collaboration between the two diverse populations.
All evidence suggests that Derinkuyu’s residents, whatever they were, planned a city where they wouldn’t have to rely on anybody except themselves, and where life could go on as normally as if they were living on the surface.