Guy Knocks Down His Basement Wall and Discovers Ancient Underground City That Once Housed 20,000 People
Image credit: Yasir999, CC BY-SA 4.0
The people living in the area most probably used the easily-carvable soft rock for storage purposes first, allowing them to keep food at desirable temperatures. Later, they realized it was also excellent for defense purposes and thus started to create the underground maze.
One such defense mechanism allowed those living on the bottom levels to cut off the water supply to the upper and ground levels, effectively preventing enemies from poisoning water. Also, there were round rolling stone doors to block the tunnels of the underground city from the inside, while the size of the passageways only allowed one potential invader to line up at a time – a very effective defense mechanism.
The underground spaces were used for all kinds of other purposes, too. For example, there was room for a wine press, domestic animals, a convent, and even small churches – the most famous one being the cruciform church on the seventh level.
But some shafts went even much deeper, doubling as wells. Even before Derinkuyu was discovered, locals used these to get their water, unaware of the hidden world lying behind. In fact, derin kuyu means ‘deep well’ in Turkish.
The people living in the area most probably used the easily-carvable soft rock for storage purposes first, allowing them to keep food at desirable temperatures. Later, they realized it was also excellent for defense purposes and thus started to create the underground maze.
One such defense mechanism allowed those living on the bottom levels to cut off the water supply to the upper and ground levels, effectively preventing enemies from poisoning water. Also, there were round rolling stone doors to block the tunnels of the underground city from the inside, while the size of the passageways only allowed one potential invader to line up at a time – a very effective defense mechanism.
The underground spaces were used for all kinds of other purposes, too. For example, there was room for a wine press, domestic animals, a convent, and even small churches – the most famous one being the cruciform church on the seventh level.
But some shafts went even much deeper, doubling as wells. Even before Derinkuyu was discovered, locals used these to get their water, unaware of the hidden world lying behind. In fact, derin kuyu means ‘deep well’ in Turkish.
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17 August 2023
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