Derinkuyu excavated underground city
Ciudad subterránea excavada de Derinkuyu
- Date
- c. 700 BCE · confidence low
- Place
- Derinkuyu, Nevşehir, Turkey
- Credited to
- Phrygians and Byzantine Christian communities of Cappadocia
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A complex hand-cut into volcanic tuff reaching several tens of metres deep, with ventilation shafts, wells and rolling stone doors to seal the passages. It shows how habitable spaces were dug, ventilated and fortified underground.
Its origin is disputed: a first Phrygian phase (8th-7th centuries BC) and major Byzantine extensions (6th-11th centuries) are proposed; the city was found in 1963 and has no foundation inscriptions. Population and level counts vary by source.
What it led to
- defensive underground refuges in Cappadocia
- ventilation through vertical shafts in excavated spaces
- a model of large-scale residential rock-cut architecture