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Derinkuyu Wonder

The oldest written source about underground cities is the writings of Xenophon. In his Anabasis he writes that the people living in Anatolia had excavated their houses underground, living well in accommodations large enough for the family, domestic animals, and supplies of stored food. Derinkuyu Underground City provided a refuge for the region's Proto-Anatolian inhabitants through the ages. From Byzantine times through 1923 it was known by its Cappadocian Greek inhabitants as Malakopea and likewise served as a refuge from the raids of the Umayyad Arab and Abbasid armies. The cities contained food stores, kitchens, stalls, churches, wine and oil presses, ventilation shafts, wells, and a religious school. The Derinkuyu underground city has at least eight levels and depth of 85 m and could have sheltered thousands of people.