A large number of artifacts from the second and third centuries AD were unearthed in an underground city in Turkey. The city features places of worship, silos, water wells and alleys with corridors in Midyat, southeastern Mardin Province.
Midyat, which is rich in history and culture, offers visitors a magical atmosphere with views of stone houses, inns, mosques, churches and monasteries that are thousands of years old. You could say, this area is like an open museum for its visitors.
In the district, a cave was discovered within the scope of a project started two years ago for the cleaning and preservation of historic streets and houses.
Quoted from Daily Sabah, Wednesday (18/5/2022) after it was determined that the cave was a passageway to a different place from the corridor, excavations were carried out to excavate the underground city. During these excavations, many artifacts dating to the second and third centuries AD were discovered in various parts of the city.
Gani Tarkan, director of the Mardin Museum and head of excavations at Matiate, said their work would spread across the district. They claim that similar examples of underground cities have been found in Anatolia, but the underground city of Midyat has very different characteristics.
"Matiate has been used relentlessly for 1,900 years. It was first built as a hiding place or place of escape for Christians at that time," said Tarkan.
In the second century, Christianity was not yet an official religion. Therefore, families and groups who accepted Christianity generally formed underground cities and took refuge there to escape persecution from the Roman government.
"Perhaps, the underground city of Midyat was one of the living spaces built for this purpose. This is an area where we estimate at least 60-70,000 people live underground," Tarkan said.
Other artifacts found in the area include Roman-era coins and oil lamps, suggesting that the underground complex was built sometime in the second or third century AD. Tarkan said archaeologists have only excavated about 5% of the historic site's area so expect more discoveries from this excavation.