Cappadocia and the Underground Cities

Cappadocia is a unique land, rich in history and folklore. As well as its thousands of fairy chimneys I talked about last week, it is also famous for its underground cities. These were carved from the uniquely soft rock and comprise vast numbers of tunnels, chambers, air shafts and other structures, spread over a dozen or more levels and reaching a depth of close to a hundred metres, potentially housing thousands of people. Some are well known; others have been discovered in recent times and many more no doubt remain to be found. None of the labyrinthine structures, which can extend for several kilometres, have been fully explored. 

Ozkonak underground city

Their date of construction is an enigma. Many are believed to date from the Christian era, when persecuted groups were forced into hiding. Underground chapels are common in many of the cities. Others are thought to derive from the Hittite period, 2000 years earlier, and built for the same purpose. Cappadocia’s name may derive from the Hittite ‘Katta-Peda’, meaning ‘the land underground’.

Some archaeologists believe they are much older still, and were merely adapted and extended in the later historical periods. The higher and therefore earlier storeys comprise rock which is much harder than the lower levels. The rock hardens during thousands of years of exposure to the air, and the lower, Christian-era structures appear much later in construction. And there is a lack of metal toolmarks on the higher levels. They may have been made far back in prehistory, perhaps even the time of Gobekli Tepe, 12,000 years ago.

One of Cappadocia's rock-cut churches

The Middle Eastern saviour-hero Yima was warned of an imminent catastrophe by the creator-spirit and made a ‘var’ to preserve the lives of people, animals, birds and plants. The world then became a wasteland with ten months of winter each year and plagues and fires which destroyed what little survived. The people remained in the var for many generations before it was safe to return to the outside world. ‘Var’ has the same root as ‘ark’, and the story of Noah’s Ark is a variation of this. It has long been suggested that the var, and Ark, refers to one or several of the underground cities of Cappadocia. 

                          Noah's Ark

I’ve already talked about the global devastation caused by a comet crashing into earth around 13,000 years ago. Yima’s catastrophe has eerily similarities. Were the cities created at this time so people could survive when the planet was plunged back into the Ice Age? That’s the line I’ve taken in Broken Skies. And when the world eventually began to recover, the people moved east to the fertile plains around Harran and began the first steps towards creating civilisation as we know it today.

An ancient rock-cut town, still occupied today.