An underground settlement of significant size has been discovered in Turkey’s Nevsehir Province, an area well known for its extraordinary historic sites.
What distinguishes this finding is the persistent function it played for its inhabitants. Residents of this underground complex not only found sanctuary inside, but they also spent a large portion (if not all) of their lives in those tubes, according to preliminary investigation.
Carbon dating found that the enigmatic underground complex predates the Hittites, the ancient peoples who established an empire in this region around 3,600 years ago.
Hasan Ünver, Mayor of Nevsehir, expressed his excitement in a message for a local media trust without providing too much information:
“When the works are completed, Cappadocia’s history will be rewritten.
“We made important findings, such as additional lengthy tunnels and rooms where people lived together; places where linseed oil was produced, churches and passageways combining various living spaces in the underground city.”
A crew of Turkish laborers excavating in the area for an urban development project happened upon the strange complex by mistake.
Archaeologists who first arrived at the site assumed they were dealing with another village akin to Derinkuyu, Turkey’s largest excavated underground establishment, which held an estimated 20,000 residents around 3,000 years ago.
The primary distinction here is that those individuals were hiding from the regular Muslim raids at the time, as opposed to these other residents, who sought permanent comfort beneath the surface.
zcan akr, an associate professor at Canakkale University’s Geoglyphic Engineering Department, initially thought the broad tunnels were used as “agricultural roads,” providing safe access for people moving food supplies over great distances.
What swayed the professor’s opinion was the discovery of a freshwater supply at the end of the longest investigated tunnel, which attested to the site’s permanent existence.
To give you an idea of the size of this underground passage, imagine it stretching across the entire city of Nevşehir and continuing for kilometers to this remote water source. The property is projected to be almost five million square feet in size (460,000 square meters).
Among the artefacts discovered by archaeologists were pipe-like instruments formed of the mineral sepiolite, which were most likely used for smoking tobacco and other region-specific psychotropic drugs. These “Meerschaum pipes” provide yet more hint to the long-term character of this settlement beneath the surface.
Researchers discovered multilevel settlements with dwelling quarters, kitchens, chapels, wineries, staircases, and linseed presses for producing lamp oil to illuminate the underground corridors.
“This is a true underground city where people stayed permanently, as opposed to previous underground towns where dwellers lived temporarily,” Mayor Ünver stated.
“We are certain that we will also obtain very crucial knowledge and findings concerning world history.”
This astounding discovery of humans living permanently underground raises more than a few questions that undermine the established historical record. To that purpose, I’ll highlight some of the most prominent intrigues.
Were these folks forced to live there as a result of some heinous natural disaster? Is it possible that a nuclear war enveloped this region at some point in the distant past? Is there going to be evidence of a long-forgotten race? Most importantly, will Turkish authorities expose these strange truths if they are true?
According to what we know, a strange society known as Ubaid arose between 6,500 and 5,000 B.C. to the east of Turkey, in the ancient Mesopotamia region. Archaeologists unearthed numerous reptilian-like statuettes representing female lizards breastfeeding their sucklings among the antiquities from this isolated society.
Researchers believe these items served no ritualistic purpose, therefore they remain a mystery to this day. We can, however, draw parallels between the newly discovered underground complex in Turkey and these pre-Sumerian statuettes, which could, despite all skepticism, be ritualistic artefacts used to venerate a species of reptile humanoids.
The tunnel network is in close proximity to the location where the Ubaids formerly thrived, and this riddle begins to make sense when we consider reptile humanoids living below.
Because humans adopted the same procedures to avoid any hazards on the surface, we can infer that our species previously interacted with these reptilians, as evidenced by these perplexing statuettes with distinct reptilian traits.
Nonetheless, this is only a supposition that has to be investigated further. The Turkish government, which agreed to open the first part of the underground site to the public in 2017, has the best hope for unraveling this enigma.
Semih Istanbulluoglu, an archaeologist, and the Culture and Tourism Ministry are coordinating the archaeological project. So far, Ashish Kothar, a UNESCO representative, has been permitted to see the tunnels and take photographs, but the confidential agreement prohibits him from publicly disclosing them.
By piecing together forgotten (or rejected) pieces of history, we may be able to reconstruct a different narrative of the past. It’s unclear whether we’ll be permitted to know about this, but the best opportunity we have (for the time being) may come from this tremendous underground city in Turkey.
