A Farmer Broke a Wall and Found a City of 20,000 Underground

In 1963, a Turkish farmer knocked down a wall in his home. Behind it was a tunnel. Behind the tunnel — eighteen floors of underground city, built to hold 20,000 people. He had discovered Derinkuyu. But Derinkuyu was not alone. Beneath the landscape of Cappadocia in central Turkey, archaeologists have now found more than 200 underground cities — connected by tunnels, hidden under hills and vineyards, some still not fully explored. The largest may have just been discovered in 2013, and excavations are still ongoing. Who built them? Early Christian communities hiding from Roman persecution — and later from Arab raiders who swept through Anatolia for three centuries. They went underground with their children, their animals, their wine, their churches, and enough food for months. The ventilation system worked so well that candles burned on the lowest floor. The rolling stone doors could be sealed from the inside and opened by no one outside. And nine kilometers of tunnel connected Derinkuyu to the next underground city. Tourists see eight floors. Ten more remain closed. Most of the 200 sites remain unexcavated. This is Cappadocia. And we still haven't found all of it.