Archaeologists have discovered the largest underground city in the world

Archaeologists have discovered the largest underground city in the world. It is located in Turkey.

Nearby At Midyat in the southeast province of Mardin, archaeologists have unearthed a cave that is just the start of a tunnel of many passages leading to a complex of pits, silos and places of worship, all of which date back to the second and third centuries of our era, writes the daily Sabah.

“The mussel has been in continuous use for 1,900 years,” said Gani Tarkan, director of the Mardin museum, which is leading the excavations. “It was first built as a hiding place or a place of escape.”

A massive ancient underground city has been discovered in the city of Midyat in Turkey’s Mardin province, which experts say could potentially be the largest in the world pic.twitter.com/0v5uDd5vv9

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Because Christianity was not an official religion in the 2nd century, families who converted to Christianity took refuge in underground cities to escape persecution from the authorities. “Probably the underground city of Midyat was one of the dwellings built for this purpose,” he added.

Similar underground cities have been discovered all over Turkey. There are around 200 ancient settlements in Cappadocia in eastern Anatolia, now central Turkey, carved into the soft volcanic rocks of the region in the 7th and 8th centuries. Historians believe that initially these caves served as a refuge in the region from foreign invaders, and in the 14th century they were used as shelters for Christian minorities hiding from the occupying Ottoman troops.

The towns were not completely abandoned until 1923, after the end of the Greco-Turkish wars.

They were rediscovered by accident in 1963, when a man discovered a secret room behind the wall of his house.

Cappadocia‘s most famous underground city, the multi-storey Derinkuyu complex, was built between 780 and 1180 AD, located about 60 meters underground. It can accommodate around 20,000 people as well as livestock. Wine cellars, stables, chapels and a religious school were discovered among the tunnels connecting Derinkuyu to other similar settlements.

However, the newly discovered city of Midyat is ahead of Derinkuyu. It can accommodate “between 60,000 and 70,000 people,” says Tarkan.

About the author of the article

Natasha Kumar

Natasha Kumar has been a reporter at the news desk since 2018. Prior to that, she wrote about early adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was a legal affairs correspondent for the Metro bureau. Prior to joining The Times Hub, Natasha Kumar worked as an editor at the Village Voice and as a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To contact me, contact me via my

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