Turkey - Cappadocia - Kaymakli Underground City

Kaymakli is the largest underground city in Cappadocia.

[Seteramedia]

To answer your question as to how they dug the tunnels. Because most of the surrounding land of Cappadocia is made up of soft volcanic and lime stone, digging with harder rock tools was common. I would assume that their waste would be disposed into a kind of well made specifically for that need. As for hotels in the underground Kaymakli, you can have a similar but more enjoyable experience staying in some of the many cave hotels found in Cappadocia. A fascinating place it is.

[Seteramedia]

Hello, I believe they did use fire torches, but resorted to lanterns for most of their lighting. Quite impressive to see how they lived underground like this for upto 9 months! And to think their were several levels still not excavated.

[HIStoryindeed]

Nice and concise, thank you for this video. This place seems to have the same designers as Derinkuyu. People always seem to marvel @ the same points though. The heavy round doors, the stables & wells.

How did they light the place? Fire torches would've been so intrusive & inefficient in such tight spaces & stained the ceiling like in older Neanderthal caves yet, just like in the pyramids there's no evidence of soot or changes in the rock to denote the presence of a constant heat source. Hmm?

[HIStoryindeed]

@TheParadiseIsNow Yeah the whole stone tool thing has to go out the window. I get why people focus on the enormity of the project from the perspective of building it. I find wondering about how they lived in it more fascinating. The trivialities of everyday life played out under the earth in such confines. Where did they "recycle"? Of course by that I'm referring to bathrooms and the need for a system of some type. They had wine cellars and livestock pens! Extreme cave camping? I'd say...