Cappadocia in Turkey is an area full of history. The mountainous landscape in the southern parts of the country has been through a lot over the millennia, from the Roman Empire to the Ottoman Empire rulers. But the stories extend in more directions than the mountain peaks, namely down under the ground where underground cities hide the stories of life from different eras. A number of underground cities have been found in Cappadocia, which has made the area one of the largest and most important historical sites of civilized caves. Last year, another one was found and is believed to be the world’s largest.
It was during the renovation work of Turkey’s Housing Development Administration, where they would develop an urban environment, that they encountered the huge cave. The find consists of 7 kilometre long tunnels, with rooms, churches and artefacts. History won over the future development of the urban environment, which had to stop in order to preserve the find, and the area was registered with Turkey’s Cultural and National Heritage Preservation Board. Development work will now be moved to another location.
It is believed that the city is 5000 years old and that the tunnels may have been used to store food. “We believe that people who worked in the faculty of agriculture used the tunnels to bring products to the cities. We also believe that one of the tunnels go under Nevsehir and reaches out to the water “, says Özcan Cakir, professor of Geophysics Engineering Department at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University for the newspaper Hurriyet Daily News. The climate below the Earth is ideal for storing food and still today the residents use them to store fruit and vegetables.
Capadoccia region is a World Heritage site with all its underground cities and caves, as well as its mountainous landscape. The new discovery, which may be the world’s largest underground city, gives just another reason to preserve this exciting part of Turkey.
Source: Huge 5,000-Year-Old Underground City Discovered in Turkey, themindunleashed
Evan Andews, vast Underground City Found in Turkey May Be One of the World’s Largest, History.com
