It was just a regular day for Mustafa Bozdemir in 1963 as he made renovations to his home in Nevşehir Province, Turkey. That is until Mustafa knocked down a wall of his home and behind it, discovered a whole new room. Connected to this room was an entire city built for nearly twenty-thousand people.1 This city is what became know as Derinkuyu, one of the ancient world’s biggest mysterious.
What we know about who built and lived in the city of Derinkuyu still remains unknown. According to one theory, the city’s beginning dates to 800 B.C.E. when Derinkuyu was built and inhabited first by the Hittites from the Old Kingdom period for an estimated short one-hundred years.2 After the fall of the Hittites around 700 BCE, historians have come to the conclusion that the Phrygians inhabited Derinkuyu.3 Derinkuyu was a sanctuary for the people who lived above ground in the Cappadocia region of modern-day Turkey. The entire region of Cappadocia above Derinkuyu was under constant attack. Since they were under constant attack, this inspired another theory that the majority of the twenty-thousand people who lived within Derinkuyu were refugees from the war between the Arab tribes and Byzantine Christians who were at war overhead around 650 BCE.4
Derinkuyu was equipped with amenities, created with technology far beyond their time. Such amenities included housing for livestock, ventilation chimneys, churches, and schools.5 Archaeologists were baffled by the design of Derinkuyu. The engineering used to build Derinkuyu was with a technology that seems to be from a later time. The cities were carved out of volcanic rock found underground. Since protection was their number one priority, multiple mechanizations were put in place in order to ensure their protection.6 Such mechanization included rolling stone doors to close off various tunnels. In the case of an attack, the rolling stone doors would block any entrances to trap intruders within the tunnel. In the roof of the tunnels, what would appear to be ventilation holes, were actually holes to pour oil on any intruders.7
Derinkuyu was a thriving city for an estimated four-hundred years. Another question historians have about Derinkuyu is what happened to its people? Once Derinkuyu was discovered, it did not take researchers long to learn that it was connected to multiple other underground cities in the surrounding area, including Goreme and Kaymakli.8 Historians have come to the conclusion that Derinkuyu must have been under attack, and people fled to one of the surrounding cities; however, it is still uncertain.
The majority of Derinkuyu’s history may never be known; however, this mysterious city is still an important part of ancient Turkey. Derinkuyu has influenced engineers today to consider the possibility of building underground cities as the population and need for living space continues to grow. Today Derinkuyu has become a tourist attraction for people all over the world.9
- Vladimír Nývlta, Josef Musíleka , JiĜí ýejkab , Ondrej Stopkac, “The Study of Derinkuyu Underground City in Cappadocia Located in Pyroclastic Rock Materials,” Procedia Engineering 161 ( 2016 ): 2253. ↵
- Fitzroy Dearborn, The Hutchinson Dictionary of Ancient and Medieval Warfare (London, UK : Reaktion Books, 2016), 146. ↵
- Benedict Anderson, Buried City, Unearthing Teufelsberg: Berlin and Its Geography of Forgetting ( New York : Routledge, 2017), 13. ↵
- Dig into history, February 2016, s.v. “‘Uncovering’ an underground city,” by Catie Steidl. ↵
- Dobraszczyk, Paul, Galviz, Carlos López, Garrett, Bradley L, Global Undergrounds: Exploring Cities Within (London, UK : Reaktion Books, 2016), 35. ↵
- C. J. Lim, Inhabitable Infrastructures: Science Fiction or Urban Future? (New York, NY: Routledge, 2017), 279. ↵
- Tony Wright, Turn Right at Istanbul: A Walk on the Gallipoli Peninsula (Crows Nest, N.S.W. : Allen & Unwin, 2003), 67. ↵
- Henry Herman, Dominance and Aggression in Humans and Other Animals: The Great Game of Life (London, United Kingdom: Academic Press, 2017), 297. ↵
- Lynn Levine, Frommer’s Turkey: From the Blue Mosque to the Blue Lagoon (3rd ed. Hoboken, NJ : John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2004), 344. ↵
71 comments
Montserrat Moreno Ramirez
This city looks great! I couldn’t have thought that there was an underground city in such a famous country that almost no one knew about. And it’s great that this kind of constructions inspired architects nowadays and is also cool that it’s going to be preserved to the generations to come!
Eric Ortega Rodriguez
This article was fascinating. I have never heard of the city of Derinkuyu. One aspect that I find fascinating within the article is how the mechanism and technology seemed and from a later time period. It was also fascinating to learn that they would have protection against intruders and even have an area to spill oil as a defense. Overall, this is a very well written article with an original topic selection. Good work.
Aneesa Zubair
This city looks so fascinating. I loved the pictures and descriptions of Derinkuyu; they made me want to go to Turkey and explore it in person! It is genius to build a city underground as a refuge for war and equip it with technology such as rolling doors for safety. I was also impressed by how far underground the city went as shown on the map. Excellent job!
Valeria Perez
The Hittites’ engineering and architectural knowledge is amazing! I had never heard of this underground city. Just the building of it must have been a feat of its own, but the Hittites went a step further and created all these amenities such as the churches, schools, and the ventilation system. After reading this article I really want to go visit Derinkuyu in the future. Really good article!
Belene Cuellar
It is so interesting to read about an entire city that was built underground to protect the people from constant attacks. I wonder who had the idea to build such an extensive site and how long did it take them to build the whole thing? It must have helped the community so much to have a safe space to go to during an attack.
William Rittenhouse
I had no idea this underground city even existed. It’s cool how it inspired engineers now to construct underground cities. That would be cool if this was a thing that happened in the future. Instead of building higher, building lower into the earth. It sounds like the people must have escaped an attack or decided to migrate for an extreme event. That’s interesting they don’t know why they left.
Hailey Rodriguez
Before reading this article I had no idea that underground cities exist. I also would have never guessed that if there were to be an underground city it would’ve been built centuries ago. I think about how they lived underground and were prepared to fight any intruders and I can’t help but imagine myself being scared of the ground collapsing over me, or not being able to find my way out. I also think it is very creative that they had rolling stone doors to block them from intruders and hole to pout oil on said intruders from above. This underground city is truly a phenomenon that I would love to go visit.
Sofia Andrade
The way this underground city was discovered was very unusual and unexpected. This city would not have probably been discovered if Bozdemir would have not decided to make renovations to his house. Through this discovery we are now able to learn about Derinkuyus history and know about their time period. It is interesting how people from ancient times were so innovative and creative in order to stay protected.
Jocelyn Moreno
I find it fascinating how one day a man just casually finds a entrance to a whole underground city in their home. I wonder the reasons of having it built and where everyone went? Also how did they breathe down so deep underground? So many unanswered questions but I love how informative this article was and how it sparked my curiosity.
Crystal Baeza
I can’t even imagine knocking down a wall and seeing a whole new world just behind it. I find it interesting how no one found it before and if it wasn’t for Mustafa I wonder if the underground city would be found today. It’s amazing how today’s engineers are influenced into creating maybe future underground cities. It makes you begin to think of any other underground cities just hidden behind a wall and underneath our feet? The world is filled with many mysterious lands and discoveries and I find it fascinating everyday we find more information about what lies ahead.