Even though today we have seen the burial of ancient cities as a natural progression of time, there were actually a few ancient communities that were built underground from the beginning.
An underground city offered several advantages over surface dwellings. The community would have been protected from the weather, and would be relatively easy to defend, depending on how the city was set up. Here are a few of the most prominent ancient underground cities in the world.
(Credit: faraxshutter/Shutterstock)
faraxshutter/Shutterstock
The Cappadocia region of Turkey is abundant in underground settlements and cliffside dwellings. The largest of these was Elengubu, also known today as Derinkuyu, which may have been home to up to 20,000 people.
The whole area of Cappadocia has alien planet-like rock formations and chasms. Elengubu sits about 85 meters below the surface and has 18 levels of tunnels. The whole area was undiscovered until the mid-20th century, ...
