LARGEST ANCIENT UNDERGROUND CITY!

 This underground city was big enough to accommodate 20,000 people.

In ancient times, the people believed in creating some sort of protection for themselves fearing misfortune, this is the reason why underground houses were built with such fanaticism during the period. Several million years ago, volcanic eruptions disgorged layer after layer of ash which caused tuff to build up, over a course of time this tuff became a carvable, soft, yet stable rock. Derinkuyu is one of 200 subterranean cities that were carved into volcanic rock and is still largely unexplored but is the deepest city discovered in Cappadocia. It is a town and district of Nevsehir Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. Like most of the discoveries, Derinkuyu was accidentally found when a Turkish man knocked down a wall in his basement in 1963 and came across an 18-story underground city stretching up to 250 feet - 76 meters.

 

Well, only 8 of the floors were accessible, researchers found bedrooms, kitchens, food storage rooms commonly known as pantries, freshwater, bathrooms, weapon storage areas, oil and wine presses, chapels, schools, tombs, stables, staircases, passageways leading to different underground cities and more than 50 ventilation shafts along with smaller air ducts to distribute air throughout the city. Geo scanning revealed this accommodation is the size of about 65 football pitches and have estimated the site to be nearly five million square feet - 460,000 square meters and contains corridors up to 371 feet long. The ruins were dated back to 5000 years. 

What could possibly be the reason for constructing such a well thought "underground" city? Over three millennia ago the Hittites were believed to live in the area, who ruled the Turkish Peninsula from about the 17th to 13th centuries B.C.E. The artefacts retrieved pointed to Hittite cultural elements hence, indicated the presence of them in the caves. This suggests the ancient people could have been taking refuge from invading Thracians. However, a different theory says it could have been the Phrigyans and not the Hittites seeking protection. They are generally considered to have created the first caves and they lived until the 6th-century B.C.E. The large underground complex is dated back to some time between the 10th and 7th-century B.C.E. The region was taken over by Cyrus the Great which could have to lead them to hideaway.

Who knows, the modern-day builders could get hit up with inspiration and we would be known as the people below?