Now this was cool! The stone in this area is a volcanic substance that is incredibly soft and on top is a hard protective layer, so in the 3rd to 1st Centuries BC the people of this area discovered they could scrape through the rock and make living spaces. We lunched in an entire restaurant which was excavated out of the hillside, with the kitchens and toilets, power, carvings, the whole thing cut into the stone.
Kaymakli is the same, only it is 9 stores and housed up to 4000 people. The story goes that Christians inhabited this area but were subject to Pagan raids and everyone was killed, so they made a 'safe' in the rocks to hide when they came to kill them. The digging was pretty easy, so one thing lead to another, and before long, they were safely living below the ground and thriving- apart from the vitamin D thing, of course.
Inside the area are shared spaces, churches, shops etc, so the population had little need to leave and if a raiding team got inside, they had traps and locks to deal with them.
Again, the photos will show you better, but some areas you could stand up and move round in and some were long tunnels about four foot high. They had air shafts with little disguised chimneys and had also drilled down to gain access to artesian water.
Today in this area, people's modern homes are also dug into the rock, with a modern facade, and rock rooms from there! It gives the kids wanting their own room a whole new meaning! Get digging then...
Kaymakli is the same, only it is 9 stores and housed up to 4000 people. The story goes that Christians inhabited this area but were subject to Pagan raids and everyone was killed, so they made a 'safe' in the rocks to hide when they came to kill them. The digging was pretty easy, so one thing lead to another, and before long, they were safely living below the ground and thriving- apart from the vitamin D thing, of course.
Inside the area are shared spaces, churches, shops etc, so the population had little need to leave and if a raiding team got inside, they had traps and locks to deal with them.
Again, the photos will show you better, but some areas you could stand up and move round in and some were long tunnels about four foot high. They had air shafts with little disguised chimneys and had also drilled down to gain access to artesian water.
Today in this area, people's modern homes are also dug into the rock, with a modern facade, and rock rooms from there! It gives the kids wanting their own room a whole new meaning! Get digging then...
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