In the southwest of Turkey’s Mardin province, an ancient underground city named “Madit” has been discovered.
This remarkable achievement was happened when a man searching for his chickens accidentally uncovered a hidden door behind a wall in his house, which led him to a tunnel.
Archaeologists started digging and cleaning the site in 2020. They have uncovered many tunnels and over 50 rooms so far. The longest tunnel they’ve found is 120 meters long.
Experts believe Madit once housed about 70,000 people. The city had storage areas for grain, wells for water, kitchens with smoke exhaust systems, places of worship, and areas for animals.
It is located about 280 feet below the surface and dates back to around 900 BC. The city covers roughly 900,000 square meters, but only a small part has been explored.
Excavation director Marwan Yavez thinks the underground city might have provided protection from harsh weather or enemies. The narrow entrance suggests it was a defensive hideout.
Madit is thought to have been built during the time of Ashurnaserpal II, an ancient ruler whose empire stretched from the Gulf in the east to Egypt in the west. The region, known as Mesopotamia, is one of the world’s oldest civilizations.
Historian Ikram Akman believes that the city might have also offered refuge during the spread of Judaism and Christianity. Madit was inhabited for about 2,000 years, with the last residents leaving around 1920.
Madit is the largest and most important of around 40 similar underground cities found in the region.