Turkish man knocked down basement wall to find 2,000-year-old underground city — after chasing his chickens through a hole

New York Post ^ | June 15, 2023 | Katherine Donlevy

[george76]

A Turkish homeowner chasing his chickens through a hole in his basement during renovations came across an abandoned underground Turkish city that once housed 20,000 people.

...

the ancient city of Elengubu, known today as Derinkuyu.

Derinkuyu, burrowed more than 280 feet beneath the Central Anatolian region of Cappadocia, is the largest excavated underground city in the world and is believed to connect to more than 200 smaller, separate underground cities

...

Inside the subterranean city — whose entrances connect to more than 600 private homes in the modern, surface-level region of Cappadocia — researchers found 18 levels of tunnels containing dwellings, dry food storage, cattle stables, schools, wineries, and even a chapel.

The city was also equipped with a ventilation system that supplied its residents with fresh air and water.

...

The exact date the impressive city was built remains contested, but ancient writings dating back to 370 BC indicate Derinkuyu was in existence.

...

The .. dimly lit hallways were intentionally built narrow and low so intruders would be forced to stoop and enter in single file.

The doors connecting each level were blocked by half-ton boulders only moveable from the inside that contained a small hole that allowed residents to spear the confined trespassers.

...

Hittites — a Bronze Age Anatolian people — “may have excavated the first few levels in the rock when they came under attack from the Phrygians around 1200 BCE,”

...

The city likely reached its peak population of 20,000 during the 7th-century Islamic raids on the Christian Byzantine Empire,..

After 2,000 years of use, Derinkuyu was finally abandoned in 1923 by the Cappadocian Greeks, who faced defeat in the Greco-Turkish war and escaped to Greece.

[stockpirate]

Ping

[mware]

We had a wardrobe in our cellar when I was a kid. I was scared of witches so didn’t mess with it.

[HartleyMBaldwin]

Was the city originally named Cthulhuville?

[SunkenCiv]

https://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/4161041/posts?page=19#19

[larrytown]

This is a sign to rebuild the basement wall...

[Irenic]

I’m bad, I think I would have kept the find to myself.

[neefer]

"You hate him because he's doing more with your name than you ever will!"

[zeestephen]

Is this where they secretly filmed "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets?"

Back in the real world, I cannot help but wonder how many thousands of slaves died building this under ground fortress.

[Fiji Hill]

Hittites — a Bronze Age Anatolian people — “may have excavated the first few levels in the rock when they came under attack from the Phrygians around 1200 BCE BC.”

FIFY

[sauropod]

bkmk

[Moltke]

The conquerors were extraordinarily brutal... the Muslim soldiers “slew everyone that they met in the streets, men, women, and children without discrimination. The blood ran in rivers down the steep streets from the heights of Petra toward the Golden Horn.

Liberals: See, muslims don't discriminate.

[NautiNurse]

Someone built that basement wall for a reason.

Did the last one out turn off the lights?

[caww]

[BenLurkin]

French Mayor Slammed After Ancient Standing Stones Are Destroyed for New Store
June 15, 2023

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230608-anger-as-pre-historic-stones-destroyed-for-french-diy-store

[SunkenCiv]

Geniuses. /sarc

[fini]

I don't know how important the "standing stones" are. You cannot save everything.

When I was in the Middle East, I saw a wall in a market that was very old. What made the wall interesting was that it was made in three different styles of stone craftmanship. When I remarked of this to a local, he told me, "Yes, old is everywhere and older is below that and really old is underneath the soil."