Man Finds Underground City While Renovating

[+susieice]

A man in Turkey was taking out a wall in his cellar to enlarge his home and made an incredible discovery. It is believed to be the underground Byzantine city of Devinkuyu. Long thought to have been a myth, the first mention of it was by Xenophon around 430-354 BC. It is now thought to have housed up to 20,000 people in times of war and hardship and may have been in use into the 20th century. It had all the amenities of a city above ground. Turkish officials have found miles of tunnels leading to what could be another 200 underground cities. About 10% of the city is now opened to tourists. I never heard of this place before and found the story fascinating. The link is very long and full of pictures of the site. There is no date as to when this discovery occurred in the article. It is believe the city could actually date back as far as 1500 BC.

http://www.icepop.com/renovation-ancient-secret/?utm_source=faok&utm_medium=T_FB_IP_CA_HiddenCity_discovery-ca_1209&utm_content=feed&utm_term=23843238321930252_23843238360730252_IP_CA_FE_45-54_M_1209

Here's the Wiki:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derinkuyu_underground_city

Edited September 23, 2018 by susieice

[Katniss]

Wow! That's incredible. It reminds of a mine.

[glorybebe]

I am so in awe reading about it!  How cool is that!?

[freetoroam]

Well that is some amazing find.

The guy only wanted a small basement...he hit the jackpot with that shovel. 

[Susanc241]

The text with those amazing photos states the underground city opened as a tourist attraction in 1969, so I imagine it’s discovery was in the late 1950s or early 60s.  It seems to be well equipped with electricity for lighting.  I hope the chap who discovered it had a nice new bigger house built for his efforts.