Ancient Superhighways: 12,000-Year-Old Massive Underground Tunnels Stretch From Scotland To Turkey

Over a million miles of tunnels connect every country and region across Europe, from the Scottish highlands to the Mediterranean coast. It’s awe-inspiring to see this 12,000-year-old underground network.

According to some researchers, the network was created to safeguard humans from predators. Others, on the other hand, believe that the linked tunnels were used as modern-day highways, allowing people to travel safely regardless of battles, bloodshed, or even weather above ground. They could be compared to an underground expressway from the past. Others believe the tunnels are a portal to the underworld.

Dr. Heinrich Kusch, a German archaeologist, said the tunnels had been discovered beneath hundreds of Neolithic sites across the continent. According to his book, Secrets Of The Underground Door To An Ancient World (German title: Tore zur Unterwelt), the fact that so many have survived after 12,000 years indicates that the original tunnel network must have been massive.

“In Bavaria in Germany alone we have found 700metres of these underground tunnel networks. In Styria in Austria we have found 350 meters,” Dr. Heinrich said. “Across Europe, there were thousands of them – from the north in Scotland down to the Mediterranean.”

“Most are not much larger than big wormholes ― just 70cm wide ― just wide enough for a person to wriggle along but nothing else. They are interspersed with nooks, at some places it’s larger and there is seating, or storage chambers and rooms. They do not all link up but taken together it is a massive underground network,” he added.