Dark valleys and rock formations in the center of Turkey include homes, chapels, churches, mosques, and even subterranean villages that are beautifully integrated into the natural terrain, making this region of Turkey one of the most stunning sites in the world.
Despite the fact that these one-of-a-kind underground havens have grown and shrunk with cities, empires, and religions, it appears that they still keep certain secrets to themselves.
Archaeologists in Turkey have discovered yet another vast subterranean city in the region of Cappadocia. This metropolis consists of at least seven kilometers of caves, secret churches, and escape galleries and dates back to about five thousand years ago.
An announcement made by the Hurriyet Daily News stated that an ancient city had been discovered beneath the Nevsehir fortress and the surrounding area. The discovery was made as part of an urban transformation project that was carried out by Turkey’s Housing Development Administration (TOK). The newspaper referred to the discovery as the “biggest archeological finding of 2014.”
According to an article published by the Hurriyet Daily News, “about 1,500 structures that were located in and around the Nevsehir citadel were destroyed,” and “the underground city was uncovered when the earthmoving to construct new buildings had started.”
Nevşehir province in Cappadocia, Turkey
The remarkable underground city of Derinkuyu, which is located in the province of Nevsehir and is seen in the featured image, has already made the province of Nevsehir renowned. At one point, there were as many as 20,000 people living in the city.
It is eleven levels down and has 600 entrances and many miles of tunnels linking it to other subterranean towns. There are also many miles of tunnels connecting it to other underground cities. It consists of chambers for sleeping, pens for keeping animals, wells, water tanks, cooking pits, ventilation shafts, common spaces, baths, and graves.
A reconstruction of what the Derinkuyu underground city is believed to have looked like
Archaeologists say they have reason to believe the newly discovered subterranean city will be the largest out of all the other underground cities in Nevşehir and may even be the largest underground city in the world. It is difficult to imagine anything surpassing the Derinkuyu underground city in both size and scope, but archaeologists say they have reason to believe the newly discovered subterranean city will be the largest of its kind.
Those involved have not yet disclosed the specifics of the dating process used at the site, including how it was carried out or how the site was dated.
However, researchers have reported finding more than forty objects from the tunnels so far, which suggests that archaeologists may have achieved the projected date of 5,000 years based on those artifacts.
There are a great number of additional known subterranean sites in Cappadocia that have been dated to this time period as well.
Even though they have already invested 90 million Turkish Liras into the urban transformation project, the TOK has announced that they will move their project to the outskirts of the city in order to investigate and preserve the newly found city, which has now been officially registered with the Cultural and National Heritage Preservation Board.
In an interview with Hurriyet Daily News, the head of TOK, Mehmet Ergün Turan, stated that the organization does not consider this a setback given the significance of the finding.
According to the Hurriyet Daily News, “Hasan Ünver, the mayor of Nevşehir, remarked that existing subterranean towns in Nevşehir’s numerous districts do not even equate to the “kitchen” of this new underground city.”
Cappadocia, located in Central Anatolia, has been ruled over by a variety of different people and cultures over the course of history, including the Hittites, the Persians, Alexander the Great, Rome, the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and Turkey.
Cappadocia is one of the most striking and largest cave-dwelling regions in the world. It spans an area of one hundred square miles and contains more than two hundred underground villages and tunnel towns. These settlements are complete with hidden passages, secret rooms, and ancient temples. Additionally, the region has a remarkably storied history of each new civilization building on the work of the previous one.
Now, a discovery has been revealed that may completely eclipse all of those previous findings.
The incredible cave houses of Cappadocia, Turkey.
