Derinkuyu | The Lost Ancient City Found in a Man's Basement

a man from daran kuyu in the nevershire. province of turkey was renovating his. basement using only a sledgehammer he. broke through one of his walls he felt. cool air coming in from the other side. when the hole was large enough to. squeeze through he decided to. investigate and inside he found a small. room-sized cave and at first he was. excited this could save him a lot of. work this area of turkey has a complex. cave system so he thought he. accidentally stumbled into one he didn't. when he turned on his flashlight he saw. writing on the walls roman greek and.

languages he didn't recognize that first. small room was only the beginning. let's find out why. [Music]. flashlight in hand he followed the. narrow stone hallway at first glance. this looked like a natural cave. formation but upon closer inspection he. wasn't so sure the stone ceiling was. rough like you'd expect to see in a cave. but the walls were smooth over hundreds.

or thousands of years an underground. river could have eroded away the stone. but there was something eerie about this. place it was if he could feel a human. presence the hallway continued for some. ways eventually spilling into a large. room that could fit dozens of people and. from here he found a system of. passageways and here and there were more. small rooms and some looked like storage. areas with crevices that could have. acted as shelves and around every corner. he found more rooms first he thought. this was some kind of hideout but it was.

just too big nobody could have built. this so after exploring a few hours he. thought he finally reached the end of. the structure but after making a sharp. turn he saw actual carved stairs which. led down even further into the darkness. if there was any question before now it. was clear this wasn't a natural. structure it was built by people but it. was too massive for him to explore on. his own so when he made it back through. the hole in his basement wall he called. the turkish authorities and described. them what he'd found they told him he.

was describing the myth of the hidden. city of daran kuyu and the man knew the. story well he'd heard it since he was a. boy the myth of darren cuyu talked of an. ancient city which provided refuge to. every citizen in the area built. thousands of years ago hidden beneath. the surface he knew the myth of daryn. kuyu very well he then said sir with all. due respect it's not a myth. [Music]. darren cuyu is in the cappadocia region. of central turkey which has very. distinct geology millions of years ago.

volcanoes covered the area when ash is. ejected during a volcanic eruption it. solidifies into a type of rock called. tough and tough is a relatively soft and. porous rock found all over the region. well why the hell did they name soft. rock tuff well it comes from the latin. word tofus meaning. marketing sandstone should have needed. something like a. mushy rock. or easy chisel. we're not selling the stuff everything. is for sale my friend may i continue no. by all means.

because tough is so pliable easy. it's been used for construction since. ancient times romans used it all over. the empire and the statues on easter. island are also made of tough so it's. not surprising that people in turkey. have been building with this material. since prehistory but rather than mine. the stone and build up the people in. daran kuyu built down there are hundreds. of subterranean houses in cappadocia and. some even go down two stories but. there's nothing quite like daran kuyu. the underground city of derenkuyu goes.

down over 250 feet in the first few. years of exploration experts went 18. stories down and since then two more. levels have been discovered it might go. down even further archaeologists are. still excavating the total area of the. city discovered is five square miles or. 13 square kilometers and housed over 22. 000 people the upper floors were used as. apartments closest to the fresh air but. darren kuyu has a complex system of over. 16 000 ventilation shafts that allow air. to circulate through every room in the.

city it also has a fresh water supply at. the lowest levels of derenkuyu is a. series of underwater rivers and wells. were centrally located to bring water to. the entire city in fact people living on. the surface above daryn kuyu have been. using wells originally intended for the. underground city they just didn't. realize what was underneath them. incidentally darren kuyu is turkish for. deep well see that name makes sense. tough not so much you need to get past. the names pal yeah. the tunnels seem to go on forever to.

walk from one end of darren cuyu to the. other is a seven kilometer walk or four. miles of tunnels as you move further. down the structure you'll find areas. that meet every need of a self-contained. city there are dining halls churches. schools there are rooms for pressing and. storing olive oil there are markets. bakeries wineries libraries and storage. for vast amounts of food a few more. levels down are areas for keeping. livestock. and stables for horses they're areas for. butchering curing and storing meat.

thousands of people could survive for a. very long time completely underground. but who would build a giant subterranean. city and why. [Music]. the land in the cappadocia region of. turkey is extremely fertile ideal for. farming so why go through the trouble of. building such an elaborate underground. city well most archaeologists agree that. daran kuyu was built for protection but. it's more than a bunker it's an. underground fortress there are about 60. surface entrances to darin cuyu and.

these doors are hidden in buildings and. courtyards and parks all over the town. but when the doors are closed they're. just part of the landscape and there was. only a single main entrance into the. city when under attack residents would. retreat underground using one of the. many hidden doors and the doorways were. protected by massive circular stones. that could retract and could only be. opened from the inside and these doors. weighed a thousand pounds each or more. and the main gate was even heavier the. access tunnels at the surface are very.

narrow requiring people to enter single. file and this was intentional it would. force invaders into choke points to make. the city easier to defend and most. levels had armories to allow soldiers. and citizens easy access to weapons even. the local militia had dedicated stables. to maintain horses for a small cavalry. they could ride out through a secret. exit and take invaders by surprise and. derinkuyu's multi-level cave system. wasn't designed randomly it was well. thought out all of the city's levels are.

interconnected but they could. individually be sealed off from one. another preventing enemies from going. any further into the structure or. sealing them in even the water supply. was designed with defense in mind it. could only be controlled by the bottom. up so if invaders breached the upper. levels their water would be cut off and. this system helped prevent the water. supply from being poisoned and as a last. resort there were dozens of hidden. passageways that led out of daran kuyu. and a passageway that leads to kaimakoli. another underground city that is about.

four miles away and you can travel there. completely underground is that one a big. city too well kaimakoli is still being. excavated but some say it may turn out. to be even bigger than daryn kuyu it's. thought that there could be an entire. series of interconnected cities all. around this area completely underground. so we know why this huge subterranean. city was built but who built it well. that's where there's some disagreement. but we do have some clues. [Music]. so who built daryn kuyu well the.

structure is made of stone so carbon. dating is no help but there are a few. theories some believe construction. started with the hittites between three. and four thousand years ago and a few. hittite artifacts have been recovered. which make this case the anatolian. hittites controlled a large portion of. asia minor reaching all the way to upper. mesopotamia and cappadocia and. derenkuyou were right in the middle of. hittite territory and this region of. turkey was a main corridor for trade so. in the ancient world whoever controlled. the trade routes would be able to impose. their will on the entire region location.

location. that's right this was very desirable. real estate and hittite cities were. under constant attack from outside. forces and underground fortress would. have been very useful to protect this. land and its people the hittites had. enemies on all sides they were. constantly at war with the assyrians the. thracians and of course the egyptians. and the people that gave the hittites a. lot of trouble and may even have been. responsible for their eventual demise. for the virginians the phrygians. inhabited central western anatolia in.

ancient times and were related to the. greeks we all know the story of the. midas touch the buffalo guy no midas was. a phrygian king who according to legend. could turn anything into gold i think he. also invented the muffler uh he didn't. some believe the phrygians constructed. or at least expanded and improved the. city of daran kuyu the virginian people. were talented engineers and architects. they undertook large complex building. projects all over their territory. considered some of the greatest builders.

of the iron age the virginians had the. skill knowledge and ingenuity to create. an elaborate subterranean city several. of the rooms in daran kuyu have been. determined to be ancient chapels and on. the chapel walls are inscriptions. written in greek now the hittites. wouldn't do this but the virginians. would and they controlled the area until. about the 6th century bc when they were. conquered by the persians there are even. written records that may support this. xenophon of athens wrote anabasis in 370. bc documenting a greek army expedition.

to persia he mentions a people in. anatolia and cappadocia who lived. underground in dwellings large enough. for entire families now though they. didn't build daran kuyu early christians. occupied it in the first century a.d. within the complex are several christian. churches and there are christian symbols. and writing all over the upper floors. they also added vaulted ceilings and. other structural features found in. christian architecture derenkuyo was a. place for christians to hide from roman. soldiers and practice their faith in. secret avoiding persecution from the.

roman empire and during the arab. byzantine wars from 780 to 1180 muslim. arabs used daran kuyu they also expanded. the structure and inscribed the walls. now there's no consensus on who built. daran kuyu but its role in history is. undisputed it was a shelter from. attacking armies refuge from raiding. tribes and sanctuary to the faithful who. feared religious persecution i like to. think that if the first builders knew. how many thousands of people would use. this city to protect their faith and. their families those builders would be.

proud. darren kuyu is an important discovery. and i hope it inspires others to explore. undiscovered secrets are all around us. now sometimes the walls that obscure the. truth are miles thick but other times. they're paper thin but whether by. innovation persistence or sheer luck. those walls can be breached it's at that. point that a wardrobe becomes a gateway. to narnia platform nine and three. quarters opens up a world of magic and a. few inches of stone in a humble turkish. basement reveals an ancient underground.

city i encourage you to break down these. walls wherever you find them whether. it's a literal wall as in this story or. a wall in your mind holding you back. from an adventure break down that wall. you never know what hidden world you. might discover. [Music]. thanks so much for hanging out with me. today my name is aj that's hecklefish. this has been the y-files if you had fun. or learned anything do me a favor and. like subscribe comment and share this. video those little things really help. the channel until next time be safe be.

kind and know that you are appreciated. [Music]. do. [Music]. you.