Man Tried To Renovate Basement And Accidentally Uncovered 200 Feet Of Ancient History
Every now and then you stumble upon a discovery that shatters your mind. It’s kind of crazy to know that there are STILL thousands of ancient sites that have yet to be discovered. With that being said, the likelihood of actually stumbling on one is slim to none.
But, this is a story about a man who did just that. He was just a Turkish family man looking to expand his house and make room for his relatives. A modest man with a modest income. What he would find on the other side of his house walls nestled in a small Turkish town would change his life forever.
Just Your Everyday Basement Renovation
The man that we’re talking about wanted to stay anonymous since the story has made worldwide news. He couldn’t afford to bring someone in to renovate his house, so he decided he would just do it himself.
He began working from his basement floor and planned to take down one of the walls in order to build an extension from there. It would make more room for his relatives to live with him.
Something Amazing Was About To Happen
As he began to chip away at the wall, he noticed something weird. He thought that there would be some rock or sediment behind it, but that’s not at all what was there.
His jaw dropped when he found a dark room that had been tucked away for thousands of years. He didn’t know what to do, and in fact, his first thought was that he was kind of disappointed there was no treasure.
Should He Keep It A Secret?
He didn’t know what any of this meant. Should he keep this a secret and only tell his family? Or should he tell the authorities about his findings? Well, he ended up contacting the Turkish Antiquities authorities.
What they found was that this room was much more than just a space with rock walls around it. What the man found would stand as one of the largest ancient discoveries of all time.
The Style Of House Is Common
It’s very interesting to note that even historians don’t know the name of the man who found this “room”. He lives in an ancient village in Turkey and had a house made of old white stone.
This style of house was very similar to the surrounding homes in the village. But, unlike the rest of his neighbors, his house was hiding a huge secret. A secret that would shake the little village to its core.
Something Suspicious About The Wall
When asked about what originally caught the man’s eye as he started knocking down his basement wall, he said that the wall started chipping and he kept seeing holes.
He didn’t expect to be able to see on the other side of his basement wall so easily. One of the most startling parts for him was the cold air that was shot out every time he would break another piece of rock off of his wall.
Knocked Down The Wall
He eventually knocked the entire wall down and saw the open room. It was dark. It was cold, and he was incredibly creeped out by it. To examine it further, he grabbed a flashlight and went in without telling his family.
He really didn’t know what to expect. He entered the room very slowly because he was worried about poisonous snakes and spiders that often frequent the village he lives in.
He Carried On
Despite how scared he was, he continued on. The man was shocked when he saw that it wasn’t just a single room. There was a tight hallway that seemed to be leading to an unknown destination.
The hidden site under his home looked to be a concealed hiding spot for something or someone. There were many of these hidden sites around Turkey, but he had never seen one with the potential to be so spacious.
The Room Wasn’t Natural
He knew that this was part of ancient history. He knew that he had stumbled on something special. He just wasn’t sure what it was yet.
This room certainly wasn’t natural. He could tell by the smoothness of the walls that they were man-made. It must’ve been from thousands of years ago because it was sloppy, yet sturdy. Despite how dark the room was, he had no choice but to keep exploring.
A Man In Complete Darkness
He felt like he was in a bad horror film, like someone was just going to jump out and grab him, never to be heard from again. The only light in the tunnel was his flashlight.
As he kept moving, he noticed another hole in the wall in front of him. The opening was barely big enough for one adult to go in and walk through. But he decided to squeeze through nonetheless.
He Was In Shock
The corridor suddenly turned into a set of stairs. So, he walked down the stairs, keeping his head down to avoid smashing it on the top of the rock, and was in shock.
He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The stairs that he had been walking on probably hadn’t been used in thousands of years. With every step, he was making history. He was sent back in a time capsule to his ancestors.
A Never-Ending Maze
The deeper he went, the more he realized just how big this site was. While he was very excited, he was also worried that the rock would collapse suddenly, or he would get lost.
He felt as if he was in the middle of a never-ending maze. At this point, he had spent hours examining the several different rooms and hallways until he decided to head back up to his house.
Nevsehir Province
As soon as he made it out, he knew it was time to call the Turkish Antiquities Authority. There was no way that he was going to be able to keep this ancient tunnel a family secret.
What makes this story so much more interesting is where it was discovered. The Nevsehir province of Turkey dates as far back as 6th century B.C and is filled with lots of ancient history.
Surveying The Area
Nevsehir is located in the Anatolian plateau and is dry and rarely gets any rain. Surrounding the area is a landscape of volcanic peaks. Residents of Nevsehir are surrounded by a total of 14 volcanoes.
Perhaps the man’s strange discovery could be connected to the multiple volcanoes that the region is known for. As soon as the authorities were notified about the secret lair, historians were all over it. They couldn’t get there fast enough.
Who Lived There?
In 1600 B.C the area was inhabited by Anatolian people called Hittites. Hittites built an empire on the plateau which eventually fell and was taken over by the Persian Empire.
According to the Biblical book of Acts, ancient Jewish people also lived in the area. With that being said, it was still very unclear who built these underground temples. But, it was still very obvious that they did so for a reason.
Thought It Was A Myth
What the man had found was one of the greatest discoveries of all time. Historians couldn’t believe what they were seeing. To them, this man, who remains unknown, is basically a superstar.
The historians were able to confirm that the hidden rooms, hallways, and stairwells were part of the ancient underground city of Derinkuyu. Before this discovery, many of the same historians thought that this underground city was just a myth.
The Bill Gates Of Their Time?
Derinkuyu dates all the way back to the 7th and 8th century B.C and is believed to be built by the Indo-European people called Phygians. These people were obviously revolutionary for their time.
They’d be the Bill Gates or the Steve Jobs of their generation. Okay, I don’t know about that, but I can only assume. I mean, a full underground city? Are you kidding? That’s incredible for their time.
A Place To Hide From The Volcanic Eruptions
There are many theories about how this subterranean city was built. Since discovering the city, historians worked day and night to try to come up with a logical theory of how it all worked.
While some believe that the city was built underground in order to act as a shelter from natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions, others believed it was supposed to protect them from alien invasions. Both are legitimate.
Run From The Aliens
No one wants to face the wrath of some volcanic lava flying at you. And no one wants to have to battle an alien that flew in on a tricked out UFO either.
In a Zorostrian text, it is suggested that the city was created under the direct order of the God, Ahura Mazda, in order to protect the civilians from the terrible winter storms. All of these theories seem reasonable enough.
200 Feet Deep
At this point, archaeologists had completely taken over the site. They made sure that they flipped every stone and explored every single corner of the maze. They quickly figured out that the site was larger than anyone had imagined.
It actually descended 18 stories, and a total of 200 feet total. Think about that for a second. The random Turkish man, who wants to remain unknown, just changed the world.
Put It Into Perspective
He accidentally discovered one of the biggest ancient underground humanmade sites in the world. All he wanted was a simple basement renovation. Historians estimated that the city could have held up to 20,000 people comfortably.
That’s an astounding stat. Think about all the big arenas you’ve been to that hold 20,000 people. Now put all those individuals into an underground city. The context adds so much more of a “wow” factor.
Both Above And Below
Despite knowing how many people could potentially be down in the underground city, they still didn’t know who was living there.
After some more time, the historians concluded that Derinkuyu was built sometime in the Byzantine era. The city was both underground and above ground, so it acted as a shelter in case of an emergency. At that time, there was a lot of war, so the underground city acted as an escape.
400 Years Of War
Arab-Byzantine wars continued for 400 years and caused a great amount of damage. Fed up with the loss of most of their provinces in the south, the Byzantine areas that remained dug deeper and deeper in order to build their shelters.
It’s a pretty smart and dedicated decision to build an entire city underneath your city in order to protect your civilians. That would catch anyone by surprise at the time.
Still Safe After Destruction
During times of war, the residents of the town ran into their underground shelter for safety. Since all that these people knew was a life filled with war, they were always on edge and ready to retreat to their secret lair.
There was no peace. Four generations of Derinkuyu people lived in a perpetual state of war and never understood true peace. Everything above ground was demolished, but all of the residents were still safe underground.
100 Secret Doors
It would always confuse the Arabs who could never understand how all of the residents were never in the village when they would come by. The people of Derinkuyu miraculously survived the wars thanks to their underground shelter.
Researchers found out that there were actually 100 secret doors that led into the site. The entrances were purposely well-hidden, making it difficult for the invaders to ever find them. It’s genius.
It Was Easy To Defend
Sometimes the invaders would find a secret door. But, the engineering that went into building the narrow hallways meant that the soldiers would have to go one at a time.
This meant that the defending soldiers had a very easy time defending any of the entrances. There were no large hordes that could pass through and take over the entire complex. It was an enemy killing ground for anyone who entered.
The Hidden Boulders
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that security and defense of the underground city was the top priority. It was strategically laid out so that each floor was attached by stairs in a hallway.
As I mentioned before, if you were able to get through one single-file hallway, you probably weren’t going to survive the next one. There was also a big boulder nearby that would close off the entrance if they needed to.
18 Stories Is Pretty Darn Big
Not only would those boulders lockout an intruder, but in some cases, it would trap them which would ultimately give them some enemy intel.
If anyone was able to penetrate the underground city, there were many other escape exits that could be used. Or, if it wasn’t a big breach, they could just flee to a different floor. If you think about it, 18 stories is very big, leaving plenty of room to hide.
The Ventilation
Each hidden entrance to the city was hidden well behind bushes and walls. When it was necessary, the residents had to squeeze their livestock through the small openings in order to make the upper city look completely abandoned to their invaders.
The ventilation system would also allow smoke to escape. Electricity was obviously not around, so they had to resort to torches which meant they needed a sound way for smoke to leave.
It Was A Functional City
The city had wine cellars, storage rooms, stores, and churches. It allowed the residents of the city to live pretty normal lives.
They stored their most important religious artifacts in the very bottom of the city in order to protect them for as long as possible. Religious classes and services were also held in the basement of the, uh, underground city. They weren’t the only ones doing it in the area.
We May Never Know
There were nearly 200 other underground cities that Derinkuyu was connected to. This meant that in case of an emergency, there were many escape routes.
These underground cities are now used as a tourist attraction to the public. To this day, historians still come to this site to try to figure out who really built it. At this point, they may never know. There are still parts that need to be explored.
