AnimeshUsed During Multiple Eras
The Christians of Byzantine weren’t the only people who took residence in this underground world. It also saw heavy usage during the 14th century as people re-populated these caves for the unparallel protection they provided from Mongolian invaders. All the religious objects were kept inside of the rooms safely to protect them from being looted by the invaders.
Blackened Ceiling
Since even the concept of electricity did not exist at that time, torches were the only source of light inside of these meandering tunnels. This hypothesis was given proven to be a fact that to all the charred and blackened ceilings which were found throughout the length of this city. But did you know this city wasn’t one if its kind?
Derinkuyu is Connected to Other Networks
Citizens of Derinkuyu weren’t the only people who looked for protection against people who sought to cause them harm. There have been plenty of other tunnels and undergrounds networks that have been discovered since that connect to Derinkuyu. These tunnels led the researchers to neighboring cities but they only had at most 3 levels. In the events of the city being overrun by invaders, there were still plenty of tunnels for the 20,000 residents of Derinkuyu to run to.
Mindblowing
Here we have the amazing illustration of a different underground city, but this provides a good idea of how Derinkuyu would have looked like. It was during the time of Christian Persecution that cities like Derinkuyu saw the most usage. And this is the reason why all the religious items would be stored to the very lowest level of the whole structure.
School Took Place
This humongous room along with the vaulted ceiling must have been used as a religious school. It is theorized since the entire city of Derinkuyu was populated by Christians only from the beginning of the middles ages until the early 20th century. Even in those troubled times, the residents of Derinkuyu understood the importance of Education.
Who Built It?
While this question doesn’t necessarily have a definite answer. The archeologists who have been working in on this discovery have come to the conclusion that it was most likely the work of the Phrygians who walked the earth all the way back in the eight century or maybe even seventh century B.C. This is, in fact, the biggest underground city found in the country of Turkey and the man living on top of it still in disbelief that something like this lied sleeping beneath his feet or so long.