Archaeology & History

Vast underground city discovered in Turkey

By T.K. Randall
March 29, 2015 ·  15 comments

Inside the tunnels of the Derinkuyu complex. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 3.0 Nevit Dilmen Dating back 5,000 years, the elaborate underground city was discovered entirely by accident by workers who had been shifting piles of soil around as part of an urban renewal project.

The vast labyrinth, which had been engineered with its own air shafts and water channels, contained everything needed to sustain a sizable population and most likely acted as a place where people would have waited out in safety during times of conflict.

"It is not a known underground city," said the head of Turkey's Housing Development Administration. "Tunnel passages of seven kilometers are being discussed. "Geophysicists from Nevsehir University estimated that the tunnels sunk as far as 370 feet in to the ground but admitted that it is still very difficult to determine just how large the complex is.

The discovery is thought to dwarf even Derinkuyu, a previously discovered underground city in Turkey's Cappadocia region that would have once housed 20,000 people.

"When the underground city beneath Nevsehir Castle is completely revealed, it is almost certain to change the destination of Cappadocia dramatically," said mayor Hasan Unver.

Source: Washington Post | Comments (15)

Tags: Turkey, Underground City, Nevsehir