Underground ancient cities

 

The inception of an underground city concept is apparently due to Zoroastrianism, the ancient Iranian religion of the duality of good and evil. It was Ahura Mazda, the supreme deity mentioned by Zoroaster (Zarathustra), an equivalent of Zeus according to Greek mythology, who invented the concept of 'underground cities' as a way of saving people during the ice age of the 'days of Malkush'.

 

As in many other situations, it is hard to separate truth from legend. Science has discovered that about 12,000 years ago, there was an ice age called the "Younger Dryas" ("Recent Dryas"). Is this period equivalent to the "days of Malkush"?

 

 

Let's imagine we are in the Mesolithic, hunting with microlith tools (material from crystallizing volcanic rocks, we are still far from the Iron Age), fishing, and enjoying taming the dog. Could we have dug for the construction of underground cities?

 

What excavation technology could the early descendants of Cro-Magnon man (Homo Sapiens Fossils) have used when they had just invented the bow, historians still wonder, estimating that these days it would take at least a few decades of intensive work to complete such a task.

 

What is our past hiding?

 

Here are a few examples of astonishing constructions, as they appear to us today. The questions that follow are still waiting to be answered.

 

Underground cities of historical and religious value

 

1. Derinkuyu (Cappadocia) - ancient Elengubu (Turkey)

 

It is known that the Cappadocia region of Turkey is crossed from one side to the other with different underground cities (36 in total), including the vast Derinkuyu. Its interior encompasses 18 floors walled deep underground, this edifice contains kitchens, ventilation shafts, chapels, various living spaces, as well as enclosures used over the centuries for food preparation or storage activities, about 3000 years old. That is to say in the Copper Age, 500 years before the Bronze Age.

 

What kind of technology was used to build this huge underground construction, which could have accommodated 20,000 people? And for how long?

 

The Hittites and Phrygians are thought to have started the excavation, other groups followed and the Christians also sheltered here in the Byzantine era.

 

And all this happened underground, at depths of 85 m!

 

 

2. Wieliczka Salt Mine (Poland)

 

Dates back to around 1200 and operated as a genuine salt mine. It was uncovered on the outskirts of Krakow and called the "Underground Salt Cathedral". This is because, over the centuries, miners descending into the depths carved a veritable labyrinth of galleries stretching up to 3000 m underground into the salt.

 

True visual artists, the miners carved chandeliers, statues, and bas-reliefs out of salt, culminating in an extraordinary reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci's famous 'Last Supper' canvas.

 

 

3. Naours (France)

 

By the 300s a Roman quarry in northern Gaul had been developed into the cave and underground town of Naours. It could house up to 3000 inhabitants who used the space as a hiding place, but also for daily life, as evidenced by the underground, which housed living quarters, bakeries, chapels, stables, and wells. Today the cave can be visited as a tourist attraction, revealing an active life over the centuries, as evidenced by the more than 2000 graffiti, some left over from soldiers fighting in the Battle of the Somme (1916).

 

 

4. Petra (Jordan)

 

An ancient city in the mountains of Jordan, still hiding many secrets, 'worked' by the Nabataeans ('distinguished men') who uncovered crowds of halls, temples, and tombs some 2000 years ago. Among them is Al Khazneh - the Treasury, whose ornamental façade runs along a 130 m stone block. It is estimated that Petra could have housed 20,000 people in its heyday. After its abandonment around 600, a 1200-year hiatus in the known life of the city followed, so it is assumed that the secrets of this life are still waiting to be discovered.

 

 

5. Lalibela (Ethiopia)

 

The Ethiopian village of Lalibela is famous for its underground churches carved out of volcanic rock on the orders of a local king almost 1000 years ago. His Christian passion was revealed by erecting 11 churches ("New Jerusalem") and is currently deemed as a sacred site by Orthodoxy. Plus, comes with a huge commercial benefit, visited by 100,000 pilgrims/tourists every year.

 

Of the 11 churches, the one dedicated to St George stands out, cut in the shape of a cross from a stone monolith and laid out in a 30 m deep ditch. The contradiction between legend and reality here relates to the period of construction, which, according to legend, took 24 years of uninterrupted work and, according to experts, was carried out in stages over several centuries.

 

 

6. Orvieto (Italy)

 

Located in Umbria and known for centuries for the quality of its white wines, Orvieto doesn't come across as anything special. However, the volcanic ash soil of the settlement, favorable for grape growing, accommodates more than 1200 tunnels, since the Etruscan civilization. The underground enclosures, used as worship places, or more pragmatically, as wine stores or for pigeon nesting, are connected by galleries. Besides, those were also used as hiding places during conflicts, according to the evidence uncovered in specific, used as shelters during the Second World War.

 

In other areas, Etruscan sanctuaries have also been found, besides Middle Age olive oil presses, all proving the presence and continuity of an active underground life.

 

 

7. Plzeň (Czech Republic)

 

World famous for the beer produced here, Plzeň also features a network of tunnels, cellars and underground wells, dating back to the 15th century. Highlights are the water tower and the ice cellar.

 

Legend has it that one of the cellars conceals a huge treasure among the food and drink storage spaces, but all the attempts to locate it have failed. Today the search has stopped, and the location gains as an underground museum.

 

 

Entire cities or just underground networks have been discovered in the most diverse places around the globe, from Egypt to Guatemala and China.

 

The limestone plateau of Giza, known for the pyramids of the Egyptian 4th dynasty, contains an astonishing system of caves, rivers, passages, and underground tunnels.

 

Beneath the ground of the Mayan complex at Tikal are located 800 km of tunnels, and in China, the discovery of 24 man-made caves has reopened the debate about the technology that allowed ancient builders to excavate 36,000 cubic meters of stone.

 

Underground bunker cities

 

8. Beijing (China)

 

The major powers have always taken defensive measures against possible atomic attacks. China is no exception. In the 1960s and 1970s, a fallout shelter (Dìxià Chéng) was built by hand under the capital Beijing to house around one million people for four months. With a surface of 85 square kilometers, the shelter was composed of enclosures with many functions (schools, restaurants, warehouses, hospitals), and connecting galleries, and everything is protected. Since the beginning of the new millennium, some areas have been opened to the public.

 

 

9. Burlington (England)

 

Due to fear of a nuclear attack, the British also built a multi-purpose shelter in the 1950s, under the hamlet of Corsham. With an area of about 14 hectares and located 30 meters underground, the Burlington Bunker was intended to house 4000 members of the British government. The facilities were exceptional for the time, offices, recreation areas, a hospital, dormitories, and everything needed for running a government, including an in-house BBC studio. In 2004 the shelter was decommissioned.

 

 

Special-purpose underground cities

 

10. Moose Jaw (Canada)

 

"Little Chicago" is a small Canadian town, famous for its tunnels used efficiently by Al Capone (whether legend or fact, no evidence has been found) during Prohibition, to smuggle liquor from Canada to the USA.

 

Before the boom, the galleries were used by Chinese immigrants frightened by the law requiring them to pay a tax to live and work in the city.

 

 

11. Montreal (Canada)

 

RÉSO, originated from the French word "réseau" = network, is a huge structure of galleries and adjacent underground constructions, designed to improve living conditions in the cold season.  From hotels to cinemas, shops to apartment buildings, providing metro transport and 120 outdoor access points, they all operate along more than 30 km of tunnels.

 

 

Embedded settlements

 

12. Setenil de las Bodegas (Spain)

 

This is a Spanish village with houses built into the walls of the Rio Trejo gorge, or under its cliffs. The dwellings have only facades, with everything else built into the rock.

 

 

13. The underground labyrinth of Dobrogea

 

Under the Limanu plateau, between Vama Veche and 2 Mai, there are 12 hectares of tunnels and caves, with branches that cross Bulgaria and reach as far as Turkey. Known under communism as a means of escape, the Limanu cave ("of the Bats" or "of the Icons") is 4000 m long and reveals relics of ancient civilizations, wall and ceiling carvings, ceramic fragments, plus a road marking system. But the cave’s main feature is the lack of limestone formations of stalactites and stalagmites. The secret lies in the cave's perfect isolation from the outside environment.

 

 

The Earth runs a network of underground tunnels, some dating back to the Stone Age, with a utility that remains to be established.

 

The process of decoding the messages passed on by generations of that time is a must if only to learn from such an endeavor.