Derinkuyu is an ancient multi-level underground city near the modern town of Derinkuyu in Nevşehir Province, Turkey, extending to a depth of approximately 85 metres (280 ft). It is large enough to have sheltered as many as 20,000 people together with their livestock and food stores. It is the largest excavated underground city in Turkey and is one of several underground complexes found throughout Cappadocia.
Aerial view over Cappadocia, nearby Gorëme, Turkey. Features from top to bottom, the city of Çavusin and the rose and red valleys (güllüdere and kizilçukur valleys)Wikipedia / Photo by Benh LIEU SONG (Flickr) – Cappadocia Aerial View, CC BY-SA 4.0
Derinkuyu (“deep well”) (Cappadocian Greek: Μαλακοπή; Latin: Malacopia) is a town in Nevşehir Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. It is the seat of Derinkuyu District. Its population is 10,912 (2022). The elevation is 1,333 m (4,373 ft).
Mount Erciyes (aka. Argaeus) seen from the northeast, in Kayseri Province, Turkey. Taken from Kayseri.Wikipedia / Photo by Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany – Mount Erciyes (Argaeus), Turkey, CC BY-SA 2.0
The small town of Coober Pedy in northern South Australia has numerous underground residences and other facilities. The area was and is extensively mined for opal, and the settlers lived underground to escape the scorching daytime heat, often exceeding 40 °C (104 °F).
Wikipedia / Photo by qwesy qwesy, CC BY 3.0 / Kerry Raymond – Own work, CC BY 4.0
Climate
Coober Pedy experiences a hot desert climate, with very hot, dry summers; mild to hot, dry springs and autumns; and mild, dry winters. Typical of a desert climate, diurnal ranges are wider than in most places, with an annual average high of 27.8 °C (82.0 °F) and an annual average low of just 14.2 °C (57.6 °F). Summer temperatures range from 35 °C (95 °F) in the shade, with occasional dust storms. The annual rainfall in the area is low and amongst the lowest in Australia, at around 141 millimetres (5.6 in). Precipitation is well-distributed through the year, although the lowest amounts are recorded in the winter months.
Extremes of annual rainfall since 1921 range from 30.6 millimetres (1.20 in) in 1929 to 427.2 millimetres (16.82 in) in 1973.
Coober Pedy was flooded when 115 millimetres (4.5 in) of rainfall was recorded in 24 hours (which is over three-quarters of the mean annual rainfall) on 10 April 2014.
Glad you asked! Thanks to the Comfort Inn Coober PedyFacebook page, we can enjoy a virtual underground buffet.
The Underground City of A Boy and His Dog
One of the weirder underground cities is found in the 1975 movie A Boy and His Dog.
A Boy and His Dog is a 1975 American black comedy science fiction film directed by actor L. Q. Jones, from a screenplay by Jones based on the 1969 novella of the same title by fantasy author Harlan Ellison. The film stars Don Johnson, Susanne Benton, Alvy Moore, and Jason Robards…. The film’s storyline concerns a teenage boy, Vic, and his telepathic dog, Blood, who work together as a team in order to survive in the dangerous post-apocalyptic wasteland of the Southwestern United States.
Plot In the post-nuclear war United States of 2024, Vic is an 18-year-old boy, born in and scavenging throughout the wasteland of the former southwestern United States. Vic is most concerned with food and sex; having lost his parents, he has no formal education and does not understand ethics or morality. He is accompanied by a well-read, misanthropic, telepathic dog named Blood
