Enter the Secret Pagan Underground | Cities of the Underworld (S1, E12) | Full Episode | History

in the middle of modern day turkey lies a  region that was under siege for centuries this   lunar landscape is called cappadocia jeez it's  magnificent and beneath its quaint villages roads   and farmlands is one of the largest subterranean  battlefields in the world first carved out by   the pagan hittites over 3000 years ago hundreds of  underground cities span for miles and have endured   the bloody wars religious battles and constant  conflict that have always threatened to destroy   them from tunnels rigged with booby traps those  are for the spears they kill the enemy by the head   and that's not going to be pretty to the  clandestine roots of christianity this is   the first monastery of the world and it's huge  there are approximately a couple hundred churches   around this area and the remains of an advanced  pagan civilization that mysteriously disappeared   cappadocia has secrets inside every cave let's  go up here and take a look and around every   corner it's like a beehive there's a honeycomb  of tunnels that just go in every direction   signs of the evolution of ancient warfare have  been buried for more than three thousand years   we're peeling back the layers of time on cities  of the underworld secret pagan underground   for thousands of years this mysterious region  has been a battlefield for invading empires   but hidden beneath its quaint  villages and bizarre terrain   lie massive underground cities and traces of a  mysterious pagan empire dating back 4 000 years i'm don wildman i'm in cappadocia  turkey land of lost cities   this lunar landscape was created millions of  years ago by the eruption of three huge volcanoes   and it is unlike any in the world for thousands  of years people here have been digging in a soft   volcanic rock creating a vast mega metropolis  below ground there's over a hundred square miles   filled with heavily fortified castles secret  churches dungeons entire underground cities   built to defend the locals against the  armies of history's most powerful empires   for generations villagers have guarded  the secrets of cappadocia's underworld   but as the modern world collides with the  ancient one those dark secrets are revealed   the region of cappadocia is located 200  miles south of ankara the capital of   the modern republic of turkey it sits in the  center of the high desert of central anatolia   a nearly 300 thousand square mile peninsula that  encompasses most of the country this region has   always been the center of mysterious activity from  supposed magnetic fields with healing powers that   locals swear by to a history of ufo sightings  going back thousands of years today its unique   landscape makes it a popular tourist destination  but its dramatic terrain conceals a hidden world   throughout the region hundreds of  underground cities and fortresses dug   into the mountains connect to create one of the  most massive subterranean networks in the world   where entire civilizations fought their bloody  last stands and secret religions were spawned i   was on a quest to find the mysteries that  lay hidden in this otherworldly region my first stop was a towering  rock column called uchisar i've been told this is one of the  most important and oldest citadels   this huge rock right here it's all dug  out with tunnels all throughout man it's   incredible look at this i mean it's just like  this over here all the tunnels all throughout   and this entire valley is just like one huge  underground let's go up here and take a look oh yeah you can see how much they've dug out here   whatever this was just a huge amount of  effort going into this incredible look at this   it doesn't smell so good in here 3 500 years  ago this was one of the three major citadels   in the region for the pagan tribes that  lived here these rock fortresses were the   key to survival in those brutal days a time when  tribal warfare could wipe out entire villages   it's like a beehive it's a honeycomb of  of tunnels that just go in every direction   wow as a natural high point overlooking the  valley ujjisar made for the perfect defensive   location but how did primitive ancient people  dig this massive structure out of solid rock   to find out you have to jump back millions of  years to when volcanic eruptions created this   totally unique moonscape here on earth over  millions of years the three major volcanoes   surrounding the region spewed volcanic materials  across the land the first eruptions left a   layer of soft rock called tufa the subsequent  eruptions left a much harder layer of basalt   this dense material created a protective surface  that slowed the erosion of the underlying tufa   eventually rain and wind blowing sand  into the tufa rock began to erode it   creating these huge plateaus and fairy chimney  rock formations that spanned for miles the tufa   was soft and easy to carve but why go through  the trouble of digging a city out of the earth   instead of building one up above cappadocia's  long and bloody history may give us a clue   cappadocia was always a highly coveted and equally  dangerous piece of real estate it sat directly   in the center of the major trade routes that  connected the world's great empires from china   india and egypt in the east to greece and rome in  the west that meant whoever controlled cappadocia   controlled the trade routes and was guaranteed  a hefty share of all the riches carried along it   everyone from the romans to the persians to  the mongols fought bloody battles to control it   that and tribal warfare made this  a dangerous place to call home   often times the local pagan population  found themselves drastically outnumbered   and outgunned so to defend themselves they  had to create another world below the ground   the soft tufa rock left behind by the volcanic  ash that blanketed the region 10 million years   before was easy to carve and the hard basalt layer  on top provided protection so the cappadocians   started to dig they began with simple rock  shelters and eventually transformed those   into huge underground cities and fortresses like  here at ujjisa some of these subterranean cities   could support as many as 20 000 people and did so  for 25 centuries up until the 1300s locals relied   on their underground cities to keep them alive  but when the ottoman empire finally stabilized   this region in the 14th century villages began to  thrive on top and some of these cities that saved   their ancestors were sealed up and forgotten in  the 1960s locals started to explore the closed   off tunnels beneath their homes they had heard  rumors of their ancestors subterranean existence   but no one could imagine how vast these cities  were today over 200 cities have been found   intact beneath cappadocia experts believe there  are hundreds more just waiting to be discovered i'm in our gup the main city in this area   there's one woman here knows everything there is  to know about cappadocia i'm gonna go see her now elvan hi dawn how are you hi  good so this is your hometown   huh yes this is very good one of  the main towns of uh cappadocia   i can see there's a rock formation right here in  town they're everywhere this is just the beginning   elvon osbay has been exploring this underground  for nearly 20 years and no one knows cappadocia's   hidden secrets like her she wanted to take me  to a place you couldn't find on any tourist map   it was an untouched underground city belonging  to the region's first empire the mighty hittites   the hittites are considered to be one of the most  advanced empires of the ancient world they range   from 1700 bc to 1190 bc and are thought to be the  first cappadocians to start living underground   but what do they have to be afraid of no one  knows for sure but their ancient writings   reference a time of troubles from invaders they  called the sea people the pagan hittites appear   to have flourished in the region for over 500  years but in the 12th century bc like another   great and mysterious civilization the mayans  they vanished without a trace the underground of   cappadocia was their last refuge and i was going  to see one of their very first subterranean cities   elvon was taking me to gototoprek a place  few outsiders have ever seen villagers have   always known of its existence but the rest  of the world is just now learning about it where we going here well we're going up there  that's the original entrance of the underground   city oh really so these caves go throughout  this entire face of rock actually yes and   the villagers say all around wherever you see  this rock formation there are caves and tunnels so this is the entrance here this is the  entrance here and this is the original   very rare mostly the original  entrance is collapsed you know watch the spider web there oh yeah  this is not open i'm telling you this   oh but it's a big room in here  wow look at this look at the bats right there it's amazing with the exception of treasure hunters who  scour this region looking for treasures   left behind from the mysterious hittites the  underground city here has been mostly untouched   elvon said its crude construction meant  it was one of the first and oldest cities   cappadocians became more advanced in underground  living as the threat up above forced them deeper   and deeper into the ground as rival tribes or the  mysterious sea people approached these villagers   abandoned their lives up above and prepared to  wait it out down below what are these holes over   here they're the wells for water storage there are  two kinds of wells these are called dry wells this   is where you store the water okay so the water  was brought here yeah brought here and stored in   here poured right in yeah and there's another  system which is called the wet well and they   grill these waterways and then direct the water  inside the underground city and then directly   into the well so it was like a primitive aqueduct  system oh yeah they had water specially carved out   ventilation shafts and months supplies of food  but that wasn't enough they needed protection throughout these narrow tunnels snaking  from room to room in the underground city   were remnants of an ancient defensive system used  during times of siege they've got another defense   here another millstone to roll into place because  i guess there's an important room down this way   millstones weighing up to a ton were rolled in  front of the entrances to shut off access into   parts of the city it was simple and genius because  the stones were round inside the rooms just a   few men could easily roll one of these stones  into place but from the other side even an army   couldn't budget this was the first evidence of  the complexity of life in these underground cities   and who knows how many ancient people died  right here fighting in these tunnels there's   this millstone's actually in place it's been  rolled into block away and i mean this has   been here for 3 000 years because no mortal  man certainly not me can move it you can see   oh yeah down this hall the tunnel just  continues on but we ain't going there i had already found evidence of an  underground battlefield and advanced   engineering left behind by the pagan hittites  but what i had just seen was only the beginning i met up again with elvon who knows the  underground of cappadocia better than anyone else   because osgonak is the third largest  underground city in cappedocia   the local government installed a secure  entrance to prevent treasure hunters from   stealing any precious artifacts this is  the entry excellent let's go but i was   granted special access inside and once in  i knew exactly what they were protecting   wow so this is the carved  out stone we're seeing yes   and we're at the first floor of this  underground city which was used as   a stable okay they were bringing their  animals in with them and tying them here   oh i see so they actually roped them up roped  them up and they carved them right out of the   rock yeah what is this uh these openings these  openings are for their eating oh i see this is   their dish so this is totally functional there's  just a bunch of hey that's this is where they eat oh my god look there so there's a space  above space above space everywhere yeah   ventilation keeps going on we were standing  on the first level of a multi-level city   the animals occupied the first level and the  villagers took cover on the second level 18   feet beneath the ground in fact over 3 000  people could live in this massive complex   for months at a time it was essentially an  ancient version of a modern bomb shelter   if they went to all this trouble to build  something so far underground and so vast the   threat they were facing must have been enormous  when they were first attacked by the arabs   they were throwing burning bushes through the  shafts and people were in the first wars were   dying because of the smoke so they decided to go  deeper and wider they needed more protection every   year as the military threat grew so did the  undergrounds that's exactly what happened it   all started in the 1st century a.d when christians  began to use the underground to escape persecution   from roman soldiers in the year 303 the last  and most aggressive persecution was launched   thousands of christians throughout the empire  were hunted and killed but it didn't end there muslim arab armies continued the christian  persecution but when they arrived in the   villages up above they found a ghost town  three secret tunnels in the village and   passageways underneath homes allowed the  christians to quickly retreat to safety once the invading armies realized the  villagers were sitting ducks beneath their feet   the real battle began but little did they know the  christians were ready in the underground cities   you have very narrow and winding slopey tunnels  okay the first reason is air circulation when you   have these slopes the air circulates much faster  and better so it compresses the air compresses   the air and directs to all around the underground  city the second purpose is for the enemy yeah you   cannot go all together you and i cannot walk  in there together so this is we need to go   one by one and we need to bend down and if  we have weapons we need to put them down yeah   and like walking like this okay so this is amazing  yes this arms the enemy that's why oh that's cool   the narrow tunnel would slow  the enemy assault to a crawl   and for those determined enough to go  through there were more surprises ahead   what are these those are for the spears  the spears yeah just in case the enemy   gets all the way here oh my god so they're  actually oh i can see all the way up here   yes so they they kill the enemy by the head so if  if you've gotten this far in your attack you're   not gonna go any further because they got  your gun wow and that's not gonna be pretty   but the defensive traps didn't end there yeah  all right even if you were saved from the spears   you can't go any further because of this the door  will be closed in front of you this door comes in   into play it was a millstone used to trap an enemy  just like the ones i had seen at gotutoprec and   while the christians have the hittites to thank  for first carving out these fortresses centuries   before they deserve the credit for taking the  idea of a subterranean booby-trap battlefield   to a whole new level one of the new tactics  they came up with was to let the invading armies   enter a main room roll the millstones to  cover the only two entrances and essentially   trap the army inside until they died as if that  wasn't enough just beyond the door was yet another   deadly obstacle up here this is a very famous  byzantine system pour hot oil over the enemy   so you've managed to get inside this inside now  you're killed by the oil oh my god yes if the   christian villagers had retreated this far into  their underground it meant they were desperate and   we were standing in the last room carved out in  this complex it was the war room for the defending   army the room from where the battle between 3 000  villagers and their heavily armed enemies was run   but how what are these holes up here well these  echo my voice this is the only underground city   where you see telecommunications  system the echo in this room   is much better than the other rooms and  it's gathered and through this hole up here   carried to the other floors like an acoustic  theater this room was built to reverberate   sound waves and channel them into a single  area a person in the room above could hear   instructions given below even when spoken at a  whisper orders and enemy positions and movements   could be communicated throughout the complex a  last line of defense against a determined enemy but even after the threat of an attack  passed locals would wait down here until   they were absolutely sure the coast was clear  that meant living underground for months at a   time so preparation was key this is the most  important thing in an underground city right   they need to store food even if they're not using  the even if they're up up there in their houses   they store the food okay and because they need  it when they stay here and it's a very good cold   cellar essentially yes the temperature is perfect  in these underground cities the temperature down   here was always the same 15 to 16 degrees celsius  it was the perfect temperature to keep food fresh   centuries before the advent of refrigeration  but the christians went one step further than   just storing their food they knew any kind of  contamination could quickly turn a subterranean   city into a mass grave for three thousand people  this is chalk most of the underground cities had   used the system to paint the walls with chalk  paint most of the places like storages kitchens   and places where they need hygiene they had chalk  paints on the walls and this is an underground   city where you can see the chalk the volcanic  tufa rock that created the landscape of cappadocia   flakes off easily its particles fill the air and  cover everything in a layer of thick tufa dust   so coating the walls of their subterranean food  storage areas wineries kitchens even hospitals   with chalk was considered hygienic  and helped to prevent contamination   the size and scope of osgonaut illustrates just  how deadly the threat of attack was and building   this massive complex wasn't easy in one day it is  estimated that one man using a chisel could only   carve a five foot by five foot area so an entire  city two and a half floors deep and one mile long   was quite a feat but for those whose  lives it saved it was time well spent in the fourth century emperor constantine  made christianity the official religion of   the roman empire and after centuries of  hiding out in these subterranean cities   christians could finally come out of the  underworld even though the christians were finally   free to practice out in the open they chose to  stay underground expanding on the subterranean   cities and creating a christian stronghold away  from the eyes of the world right here in gorime   i was about to see the evolution of christianity  hidden inside the caves of cappadocia   geez it's magnificent it was hard to imagine that  this valley was hiding hundreds of churches from   crude caves to intricate basilicas that rival  the great cathedrals of rome but even more   amazing is that this very site was one of the  first christian education centers in the world   this is the first monastery of the world  and it's huge there are approximately   a couple hundred churches around this area  these caves were used to create the first   monastery of the official religion of the largest  empire in the world monks ate slept and prayed   in seclusion here a solitary yet communal  lifestyle like this had never happened before the idea of monastic life came from saint basil  in the 4th century christianity was at its peak   and he was alarmed by his own materialism he had  lived with hermit monks in egypt and expanded on   the idea so here in cappadocia he created a  massive self-sufficient community of monks   the world's first monastery they lived here until  the 14th century when the ottomans took control   this subterranean solitary world is the  basis of monastic life as we know it today   but that's not all saint basil did here  he was actually able to excommunicate   those involved in prostitution trafficking so  common along major trade routes like cappadocia   essentially cleaning up the  remnants of the area's pagan past   but of the hundreds of churches and  dwellings here in this monastic complex   one specific underground structure stands apart  from the rest it is believed to be one of the   earliest dwellings here in goreme dating back  over 1 000 years today it's a christian world   of the dead that's been dubbed the snake church  by locals this one is a very good example to the   primitive church okay this is a burial place so  watch your step you don't fall into the grave okay these are our graves here huh yes these are the  grays there are bones found inside these grays   and and these two these small  ones yeah they're children's grace it's proof that an entire community of christians  men women and children lived in this very spot 10   centuries ago but how is it still standing  just like today the 11th century christians   knew they couldn't just dig haphazardly into  the hillside so throughout the region every   18 feet of digging required a supporting wall  or column and this monastery was no exception   this medieval form of building codes helped  ensure the world's first monastery could survive   10 centuries later when the ottoman turks  conquered cappadocia and stumbled upon this   subterranean world they were impressed with the  engineering that kept these structures standing   and even more impressive was that the ancient  frescoes on the walls hadn't been exposed to   the elements preserving the stories of the  world's first christians underground we   have these famous cappadocian stories painted on  the wall they are from the bible of course but   these are local stories all right someone tried  to do fresco but you can't even see the face   you know very primitive but graves and  crude frescoes are only just the beginning   not far from the snake church there's another  church with even more elaborate frescoes beautiful it's gorgeous this church was built  around the same time as the snake church   but its frescoes came later showing just how much  more advanced the christian artists have become   these are local artists painting these churches  the intermediate ones but very skilled hand   a very skilled hand but you really don't see lots  of color combination reds and blues basically   natural colors and these churches were normally  used to teach christianity to illiterate people that means this one thousand-year-old room was  much more than a church it actually doubled as   a school of christianity in the middle ages it was  very rare to find people who could read so these   intricate frescoes were used like a textbook  telling the stories of the bible in pictures   if this church was a message to the local  people the next one was a tribute to god   himself it was the biggest and most ornate  of all the churches in gureme and for seven   centuries it has remained intact thanks to  the strong tufa walls into which it was carved wow oh it's really amazing yeah you can see the  difference in sophistication detail the color   and ceilings are high how beautiful ah this is spectacular so this is the first  part of the church from 11 12 centuries   and these are the frescoes about the  biblical stories so this is the life of   jesus from his birth to his crucifixion  so much detail so much work involved   the frescoes on the ceilings and walls of  this cave turned church rivaled that of any   church throughout the byzantine empire some  of the world's finest artists were sent from   constantinople to paint these spectacular murals  a sign of cappadocia's importance to this emerging   religion but it was the engineering used to  build this church that was even more amazing   this is cathedral architecture i mean the  depth and the height and their double layers   of columns and inner niches and they've  gone to the trouble of the details details this church resembles the layout of those of the  eastern roman empire it had an axe at one end to   symbolize an opening to the kingdom of god a main  central prayer area supported by four columns   and two smaller prayer areas to the  sides the design is similar to the   churches found in constantinople but this one  was carved into the ground entirely by hand driving by gourmet valley in cappadocia few  realize the holes in the hills lead to a massive   monastery the first of its kind in the world  from christian classrooms and massive basilicas   hidden inside caves to blood-drenched pagan  battlefields more than 18 feet beneath the ground   centuries of constant digging created another  world here and i had barely scratched the surface the hittites the early christians the  romans and mongols had all ruled cappadocia   adding their own layers to its massive underground   today every house shop or road here could  hide an entrance into one of these lost worlds   and elvon was taking me to a town that sits on top  of a five-level subterranean city extending nearly   four miles but it's not the size that's most  impressive the 1900 year old architecture sits 20   feet beneath the ground and actually inspired some  of the greatest engineering feats on the planet   mehmed asmambashilu the mayor of ionis a  small village outside the city of kaiseri   agreed to take me into the bowels of the sealed  off underworld let's go down it just so happens   that the best way to get down is through the  basement of the childhood home of one of the   world's most influential architects down here  his name is after you thank you thank you wow so we are entering into his house here this is   where he lived they say this is the place  when he opened his eyes as a baby he saw these   arches these arches here why yes so these were  actually features of the house these arches are   very important because those are the influence to  his uh later life mimar sinan born in 1489 right   here in this house went on to build some of the  most impressive monuments of the ottoman empire   his most famous was the suleimania mosque it  was built for sultan suleiman and standing   170 feet tall it's the largest mosque  in istanbul it has one of the biggest   unsupported domes in the world amazingly a  building of this size could never have been built   without the engineering feet found right beneath  cenan's childhood home it's a triple arch system this system builds on the same idea as the  simple roman arch the weight from above is   distributed throughout the sides so with three  arches sharing a central axis the load-bearing   capacity triples as well it's a simple but  ingenious way to make the most of a single column but why was the triple arch used here in the first  place this underground city is believed to have   been one of the newer ones in the region first  inhabited by the romans in the second century   as each new generation moved in they expanded  the city both above ground and below nervous   that the world up above could cave into the  one below they put triple arches throughout   the underworld the technique worked 1900 years  later these second century walls can still hold   up the thousands of pounds bearing down on it  from the modern town that continues to grow above and we go this way but there's  something else that sets this city   apart from the rest man look at these little  amazing spaces i mean it's like a set piece   today homeowners have blocked off spaces beneath  their homes for storage but 500 years ago during   cenon's time this system was an uninterrupted  three and a half mile long subterranean factory   i cannot get over how vast this whole underground  of this house is i mean and this is what kind of   room here they are making iron utensils in this  room over here they melt the iron in that hole wow   the terracotta molds left behind were  once used to make tools out of iron   but what was created in the next room was a matter  of life and death now what is this room what   was this used for it's a workshop and it's also  interesting because there is a pigeon house inside   the workshop oh really you know why why because  they're making gunpowder out of the pigeon poop   many ancient civilizations considered  pigeon droppings a precious commodity   cappadocians had known for centuries that  this bird experiment was high in nitrates   and they often used it as fertilizer  but after the invention of firearms they   realized this highly explosive substance  was perfect for making homemade gunpowder   and over 500 years later i was standing in  the middle of a subterranean weapons factory   so sinan lived above this a whole working complex  all working complex they believe living here   and not being an architect is not possible this  is a perfect laboratory for a great architect   to be raised among amazing this perfect laboratory  for me marcin is an invaluable time capsule today   and few people know that everything from the  beginning of ancient factories to arches that   inspire the world are all right here buried  20 feet beneath this village in cappadocia   in the last 50 years around 200 underground  cities have been found throughout cappadocia   and new ones are found all the time in fact  just recently archaeologists discovered another   lost city but this was no ordinary find it  may be the largest and most sophisticated   underground city in all of turkey it's still  being excavated today but it may rewrite history this latest discovery buried beneath cappadocia is   unlike any other it's located in the town of  gaziamir on the western edge of the region   the locals always believed they lived on top of  another world but they had nothing to prove it   so the government gave them three weeks to  start digging and see what they could find   a group of villagers got together and  no sooner had they broken ground than   they uncovered a time capsule dating back seven  centuries to the dangerous days of the silk road wow there's just new excavation everywhere here  everywhere yes there there there i can see all   this excavation going on archaeologist guzen  karakay is in charge of this one-of-a-kind dig so this is the new underground city they  found the silk road was the major freeway   of the ancient world it was the lifeline  that allowed people to get from one place   to another transporting everything under the  sun incredibly it extended seven thousand miles   which meant that rest stops were needed and  when it came to rest stops the turks went big   here beneath gaziamir sits a caravan sarai or  a fortified four seasons of the ancient world   experts believe this complex  might go back 800 years   this rest stop fell out of favor in the 14th  century and hundreds of years of dirt and debris   furried it beneath the ground until three months  ago when they cleared away the mud all right and   exposed the newest piece of cappadocia's  past so all of this was underground before   today we were the first to ever be given  access into this unseen underworld off we go oh my god it's a whole world  in here isn't this beautiful   i'm so surprised to see a place like this it's gigantic but what was such a massive caravan  sarai doing beneath gaziamir   this village sat strategically on the busy seven  thousand mile silk road caravan sarai's like   this one were built every 18 to 25 miles the  distance a camel could cover in a day's travel it's hard to tell today but 800 years ago  this would have been an impressive site travelers from all over the world would  have entered through a massive guarded gate   security was always a major concern once  inside there were stables for their animals   storage room for their goods sleeping  quarters baths wineries a central room   where food was served and areas for doing  business in essence it was a city of its own   caravan serais like this one cover 50 000  square feet more than an acre without these   caravan sarais long distance trading  would have been virtually impossible   fountains baths and wineries where guests  could unwind after a long day of travel   made it well worth the hefty price guests paid to  stay here what is this here that's that's the cork   so this kept the wine yeah yeah that's the  corn oh beautiful but the luxurious life the   innkeepers provided their guests was only  a temporary escape from the outside world   in fact in the 13th century this entire  region was sketchy this four-star hotel   was smack-dab in the middle of a war zone  most of the local villagers took refuge   in the underground cities i had already seen  travelers on the silk road needed security too   the eastern roman empire was left weak and  vulnerable by the fourth crusades in 1204   muslim turkish tribes had infiltrated the area  and were constantly at war with each other and   anyone in their path and brutal mongol invasions  were always a threat not to mention gangs of   thugs and thieves trolling for victims looking  to steal the expensive camels and their cargo wow look at this yeah this is not like the tunnels  we've been to no not at all it's huge for one   thing i mean literally the tunnels are big the  tunnels were used as corridors to get from room to   room at ten feet tall they were larger than most  but they had to be asian camels used on the silk   road could be as tall as seven feet and weigh as  much as 1500 pounds oh i see it splits off in two   yeah the camels the the animals were taken out  this way the slope the big wide tunnel here   travelers from all over the world  mostly rich merchants carrying their   goods camelback would have stopped here to  rest after a long day of travel and trade   in this courtyard they would unload their goods  everything from silk to spices and tie up their   animals animals were precious cargo and they  were well cared for at the caravan psoriasis   a staff of veterinarians saddle makers blacksmiths  and stable hands would have been on site   so this entire room is filled with camels i  guess so i guess so oh well this looks like a   bone oh my god that's a joke ancient camel jaw and  a top oh my god it's a little gruesome isn't it   from the 13th century yeah most probably i'm  going to leave it right there in fact this   archaeological site here is the only one in  cappadocia to have ever unearthed camel bones just three months into this dig the archaeologists  have already unearthed unprecedented relics from   the ancient world but they've only dug out  a fraction of this caravan sarai buried   here beneath gaziamir as they continue to  excavate who knows what else they'll find   for now the mud is the only thing separating the  past from the present like ancient time capsules   these underground cities preserve cappadocia's  dark and mysterious past from the harsh existence   of the neolithic era to the brutal warfare of the  dark ages today like their ancestors locals are   once again moving back into these ancient caves  turning them into boutique hotels and luxury homes   but next time they want to renovate  they knock down a wall or dig a new well   who knows what secrets they'll find  hidden in the caves of cappadocia you

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Keywords: history, history channel, history shows, history channel shows, cities of the underworld, history cities of the underworld, cities of the underworld show, cities of the underworld full episodes, cities of the underworld clips, full episodes, Cities of the Underworld s1 e12, Cities of the Underworld se1, Cities of the Underworld season 1 episode 12, Cities of the Underworld se1 ep12, Cities of the Underworld 1X12, Season 1, Episode 12, Secret Pagan Underground, Secret Pagan

Id: iPdG6N7YG7s

Length: 42min 20sec (2540 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 10 2021