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The achievement of ancient cultures tend to be woefully unappreciated-we think of the people as loincloth-wearing savages.

Yet when we're proven wrong by some impressive feat of engineering, we just make a bunch of documentaries about aliens. But the engineers of times past were nothing to sneer at, some of their accomplishments make ours seem slightly embarrassing.

Derinkuyu's underground city was discovered in the 1960's in Turkey, when a modern house above ground was being renovated. Much to the relief of everyone present, the 18-story underground city was abandoned and not swarming with mole people.

Hidden for centuries right under everyone's noses,Derinkuyu is just the largest of hundreds of underground complexes built by we're-not-sure-who-exactly around the eighth century B.C. To understand just what's so phenomenal about this feat of engineering, imagine someone handing you a hammer and chisel and telling you to go dig out a system of underground chambers capable of sustaining 20,000 people. And not one of those fancy modern chisels, either - we're talking about something dug with whatever excavating tools they had 2,800 years ago.

The city was probably used as a giant bunker to protect its inhabitants from either war or natural disaster, but it's
architects we're clearly determined to make it the most comfortable doomsday bunker ever.
It had access to fresh flowing water-the wells were not connected with the surface to prevent poisoning by crafty
land dwellers . It also has individual quarters, shops, communal rooms, tombs, arsenals, livestock, and escape
routes. There's even a school, complete with a study room.

Even now, the site hasn't been fully excavated, so we haven't found the golf course or the football stadium yet.

Massively interesting post Hope, on a facinating topic.

I imagine you will find Graham Hancock's writings in his Magicians of the Gods on an ancient place in Southeast Turkey [Old Armenia] Gobekli Tepe overlooked by Mount Arafat and its connectivity with Noah's Ark, the Old Testament Deluge and Plato's vivid account of the submersion of the island state of Atlantis, just as exciting.

However, back to the subject and a few more nuggets. In 1963 a homeowner from Cappadocia in the Nevsehir province of Turkey got the shock of his life when he discovered a tunnel, which led him to the ancient underground city of Derinkuyu. He originally thought as he knocked the wall through as part of his DIY project, that he had srumbled on some kind of well. However, when the perfectly sculpted tunnel seemed to go on ad infiinitum he realised the enormity of his find.

Derinkuyu, reaches some 60 metres below the ground, containing 18 levels, so what the astounded gentleman found was an entire city carved into the stone beneath Cappadocia. Its hidden entrances suggesting that the ancient city was used to house people in times of war, or of natural disaster.

The city was apparently used by Christians from the Middle Ages, right up until the early 20th century.


It is understood that this truly elaborate city was once even connected to other underground cities. Estimated to have been constructed during the 7th or 8th century BC there is no doubt in the minds of archaeologists that it was in continual, frequent use up until and throughout, the 12th century. It was used as a refuge from the Mongolians in the 1300's, and not finally abandoned until 1923.

Sophisticated design features are inherent, for example: Below, one of the massive stone doors that would block off the entrances, the hole in its centre would have been fitted with a beam so the door could roll open and shut.