[HN Gopher] Derinkuyu, the extraordinary underground city of Turkey
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       Derinkuyu, the extraordinary underground city of Turkey
        
       Author : kjhughes
       Score  : 124 points
       Date   : 2022-08-28 23:56 UTC (23 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.mybestplace.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.mybestplace.com)
        
       | YouWhy wrote:
       | Bret Devereux has recently written a great piece on foraging in
       | ancient warfare [1]. TL;DR: foraging adds an unbearable burden on
       | an already suffering populace. I can see why the countryfolk of
       | Malakopi/Derinkuyu would go to almost any lengths to spare
       | themselves.
       | 
       | [1] https://acoup.blog/2022/07/29/collections-logistics-how-
       | did-...
        
       | picsao wrote:
        
       | kubi07 wrote:
       | There are tons of abondened places like this in Turkey and no one
       | cares about them. They are used as barns these days. Turkish
       | government probably doesn't even know most of these places but
       | treasure hunters loves them.
       | 
       | If you are interested with this stuff check this youtube
       | channels.
       | 
       | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9f3EQl1eTWrLpS5o1fQMYQ
       | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN1b69YfMmuX6gOoWQaHI-Q
       | 
       | This Turkish guy is a treasure hunter which is illegal. There are
       | many treasure hunter youtubers in Turkey but this guy is the best
       | because he is not faking it. I enjoy it alot, highly recommended.
       | No English subtitles but you can understand what's going on.
        
         | plausibledeny wrote:
         | Though it was amazing that around Goreme there are just miles
         | and miles of abandoned cave houses with zero protection, not
         | even fenced in. You could just wander through them freely.
        
         | pirate787 wrote:
         | The ransacking of pre-Turkish Asia Minor continues...
        
           | kurupt213 wrote:
           | Been happening since the bronze age
        
       | JoeAltmaier wrote:
       | Better title: Derinkuyu, one of 36 underground cities in Turkey
        
         | WithinReason wrote:
         | Maybe the other 35 aren't extraordinary
        
       | tda wrote:
       | I find this very fascinating, but when searching for more
       | information online I only found very shallow aeticles rehashing
       | the same bits of info. Where is the 3d pointcloud of this city?
       | Sure the most intricate 3d structure of old os a prime candidate
       | for 3d mapping. Actually I did not even find a proper 2d map of
       | the place.
       | 
       | https://matterport.com/discover/space/mehu-tomb-mqbrh-mhw of
       | derinkuyu would be awesome!!
        
       | jacobgorm wrote:
       | I visited there as a child but had forgotten all about it until
       | seeing this post. Magical place, though Goreme (where the last
       | photo might be from) probably outshines it a little bit.
        
       | yoran wrote:
       | I remember visiting this underground city a couple of years back,
       | and thinking, what were these people so scared off in the outside
       | world that led them to build this? It's an incredible feat, I
       | think even with today's tools, let alone back in the day. Very
       | intriguing.
        
         | bombcar wrote:
         | > Over 200 underground cities at least two levels deep have
         | been discovered in the area between Kayseri and Nevsehir, with
         | around 40 of those having at least three levels.
         | 
         | I suspect that at least _part_ of it was the ground in the area
         | being easy to dig into to make a dwelling.
         | 
         | Dry underground dwellings are very good in general if they can
         | be made easily.
        
           | pmontra wrote:
           | Non only the ease of digging but also it being self-
           | sustaining: it doesn't need reinforcements in roofs and
           | walls. In modern times there is something similar in Coober
           | Pedy, Australia.
        
         | AdmiralAsshat wrote:
         | Well my mind immediately went to the premise of _A Boy and His
         | Dog_ or _Space Battleship Yamato_ where the surface was nuked
         | and irradiated, but, might be a little premature for that.
        
         | balentio wrote:
         | Antiochus was not exactly a nice guy if your beliefs happened
         | to not be his.
        
           | MomoXenosaga wrote:
           | Religious tolerance is not mankind's strong point. Even in
           | the Netherlands which prides itself on religious freedom it
           | wasn't until 1848 Catholics were allowed to build churches
           | again. It wasn't a popular move.
        
         | pikseladam wrote:
         | "You are reading the only book in the world about how to grow
         | certain kind of flower. You are drinking your wine, your house
         | is enough for your family, your kids playing outside, your wife
         | making cloths with her friends. Stable life, happy life... You
         | hear a voice, library door is open but crushed with a horse
         | kick. A man wielding his sword comes in on top of the horse,
         | crushing your skull with it without listening a word of you.
         | Your kids probably dead already, your wife and her friends
         | taken as slaves. Library is now burning in front of your
         | eyes..."
         | 
         | This is how a mongolian raid is like. Thats how our history
         | teacher told us. When you look at it like that, it is good to
         | start digging so no horse can get in. All city is like a maze,
         | there are lots of traps inside.
        
         | flanbiscuit wrote:
         | To me, it seems like it was because of wars and raids.
         | 
         | from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derinkuyu#History
         | 
         | > refuge from the raids of the Umayyad Arab and Abbasid armies,
         | during the Arab-Byzantine wars (780-1180).
         | 
         | > The city continued to be used as protection from the
         | Mongolian incursions of Timur in the 14th century.
         | 
         | > After the region fell to the Ottomans the cities were used as
         | refuges
         | 
         | > As late as the 20th century the town's inhabitants, called
         | Cappadocian Greeks, were still using the underground chambers
         | to escape periodic waves of Ottoman persecution. (The Cambridge
         | linguist Dawkins, who spent time in the towns from 1910-1911
         | while writing his book on Cappadocian Greek wrote, "their use
         | as places of refuge in time of danger is indicated by their
         | name kataphugia. In 1909, when the news came of the recent
         | massacres at Adana, a great part of the population at Axo took
         | refuge in these underground chambers, and for some nights did
         | not venture to sleep above ground
        
           | boomboomsubban wrote:
           | Though it wss built to protect from raids, keep in mind every
           | instance of it's use you list happened at least a millennium
           | after it's creation.
        
           | therein wrote:
           | Yeah, definitely not cataclysmic events. Never consider that.
           | Always persecution.
           | 
           | People would run away from persecution. Not hide underground
           | at the spot they expect to find you.
        
       | tromp wrote:
       | Also discussed yesterday at
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32625766
        
       | aaron695 wrote:
        
       | bqmjjx0kac wrote:
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derinkuyu
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | renewiltord wrote:
       | Visiting this place was totes fun. We played around inside. Very
       | cosy. I remember wondering how safe it would have been to
       | actually cook with fire inside. Don't recall what I concluded.
       | 
       | Interestingly, I think there were armed guards around for some
       | reason.
        
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       (page generated 2022-08-29 23:01 UTC)