Large Underground City Discovered in Turkey

NEVŞEHIR, TURKEY—An underground city estimated to be 5,000 years old has been discovered in Turkey’s Central Anatolian province, surrounding Nevşehir fortress, which sits on a conical-shaped hill. The area was being prepared by the Housing Development Administration (TOKİ) for an urban transformation project. “It is not a known underground city. Tunnel passages of seven kilometers are being discussed. We stopped the construction we were planning to do on these areas when an underground city was discovered,” TOKİ Head Mehmet Ergün Turan told Hurriyet Daily News. This city is thought to be much larger than other underground cities in the region. “We believe that people, who were engaged in agriculture, were using the tunnels to carry agricultural products to the city. We also estimate that one of the tunnels passes under Nevşehir and reaches a faraway water source,” said Özcan Çakir of 18 March University. To read about the spectacular remains of a Hellenistic and Roman-era city in central Turkey, see "Zeugma After the Flood."