Archeologists discover 5,000-year-old underground city that could be the largest ever

[shunyadragon]

Source: http://inhabitat.com/archeologists-dig-up-5000-year-old-underground-city-that-could-be-the-largest-ever-found/

Archeologists discover 5,000-year-old underground city that could be the largest ever found

Read more: Archeologists discover 5,000-year-old underground city that could be the largest ever found | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building


The city, found in the province of Nevsehir, was discovered while developers were excavating for a new housing development in the area known in archeological circles for the amount of underground settlements. The project has since been cancelled.

This site, however, near the city of Kayseri, apparently dwarfs all other sites, according to The Independent—which notes that “Hasan Ünver, the mayor of the city on those outskirts the discovery was found, said other underground cities were nothing more than a “kitchen” compared to the newly uncovered settlement.”

RELATED: Aerial imagery reveals new details about ancient stone circles in the Middle East

Despite the fact that nearly 90 million Turkish liras, the equivalent of about 38.6 million in U.S. dollars, have been spent on the housing development, the Turkey Housing Development Administration (TOKI) doesn’t feel it is a loss, considering what has been uncovered.

Escape galleries and churches were found in the underground city and the site has now been registered officially with the Turkish Preservation Board, officials said. It is not the first underground city to be found in the Nevsehir area, but it is the most massive.


Read more: Archeologists discover 5,000-year-old underground city that could be the largest ever found | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building .

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[rogue06]

Source: http://inhabitat.com/archeologists-dig-up-5000-year-old-underground-city-that-could-be-the-largest-ever-found/

Archeologists discover 5,000-year-old underground city that could be the largest ever found

Read more: Archeologists discover 5,000-year-old underground city that could be the largest ever found | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building


The city, found in the province of Nevsehir, was discovered while developers were excavating for a new housing development in the area known in archeological circles for the amount of underground settlements. The project has since been cancelled.

This site, however, near the city of Kayseri, apparently dwarfs all other sites, according to The Independent—which notes that “Hasan Ünver, the mayor of the city on those outskirts the discovery was found, said other underground cities were nothing more than a “kitchen” compared to the newly uncovered settlement.”

RELATED: Aerial imagery reveals new details about ancient stone circles in the Middle East

Despite the fact that nearly 90 million Turkish liras, the equivalent of about 38.6 million in U.S. dollars, have been spent on the housing development, the Turkey Housing Development Administration (TOKI) doesn’t feel it is a loss, considering what has been uncovered.

Escape galleries and churches were found in the underground city and the site has now been registered officially with the Turkish Preservation Board, officials said. It is not the first underground city to be found in the Nevsehir area, but it is the most massive.


Read more: Archeologists discover 5,000-year-old underground city that could be the largest ever found | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building .

© Copyright Original Source

I was reading about this earlier this morning. Discovered in Cappadocia in central Turkey with one source declaring that it consists "of at least 7 kilometers (3.5 miles) of tunnels, hidden churches, and escape galleries dating back around 5,000 years." I think the dating back 5000 years part is a bit suspect in that most of these underground cities date from much later.

The source above brings up another multi-level underground city in Nevşehir Province called Derinkuyu that could hold up to 20,000 people. The article describes it as being eleven levels deep although the Wikipedia article on it says it has five levels. They also say such structures started out as caves which were later expanded and were likely first constructed "by the Phrygians, an Indo-European people, in the 7th–8th centuries B.C." That would push their origins back to less than 3000 years.

An ABC article includes numerous pictures

[One Bad Pig]

Some of the pics at the ABC site look more like random pictures of Kayseri.

[Cow Poke]

Some of the pics at the ABC site look more like random pictures of Kayseri.

Kayseri, seri, whatever will be will be.

[DesertBerean]

I'm guessing that PARTS of the city date back 5,000 years since churches can't go back more than about 2,000...

[rogue06]

I'm guessing that PARTS of the city date back 5,000 years since churches can't go back more than about 2,000...

Apparently they are basing the age on some artifacts uncovered there but they are not releasing how the dating was done.

[One Bad Pig]

Kayseri, seri, whatever will be will be.

Well, aren't you punny.

[shunyadragon]

I'm guessing that PARTS of the city date back 5,000 years since churches can't go back more than about 2,000...

I believe what they may be referring to is temples, or possibly churches used much later in history.