We are spending the night in a monestary! Can just imagine what these walls have witnessed! Once again we'll be sleeping under a high vaulted stone ceiling.
This afternoon we visited the underground city of Kaymakh that was created by the Hittites in 1600 BC. It was amazing and I wish I were still teaching so I could tell my students about it. The stone here was the same as the places we visited yesterday. It was soft and easy to carve, but hardened as it came on contact with the air. The Hittites took their design from the trees with a large round pillar, like a tree trunk,supporting each section, then spread the tunnels and other structures like the branches and roots of a tree. There have been 36 of these cities found. They are 8 floors deep. They created circulation systems and dug down 120 meters to get water. They would lower a bucket by rope to bring it up. The temperature remains an even 60 degrees. They could store food for up to two months. They kept many animals and disposed of their dung and human waste by mixing it with ashes from the fires and spreading it on their fields as manure. They filled their lamps with lindseed oil and fed the lindseeds to the animals. Up to 5000 people could live in these underground cities. They did this for protection. There was still a mill stone where they ground their grain and a big area where they actually did stomp on grapes to make wine. They had a huge round stone , they could roll in front of an entry way for protection. The stone had an opening in the center so they could see and/or shoot out. One member of our group said, "The Hittites had the Rolling Stones!". Groan!
These cities were later used by Christians. The creators were so cleaver they devised ways for the smoke to disapate, so the enemy would not know where they were.
Many of the tunnels were narrow and twisty and we had to be careful not to bump our heads. There were still holes in the ceiling where they would hang up a hammonk for the baby!
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