habitat rupestre.pdf - Società Friulana di Archeologia

R. CapraraMany neo Aeneolithic tombs in Sardinia, chamber tombs formthe Classical Age and the Christian Catacombs are hypogeal.The underground cities of Cappadocia, the settlements in Matmataare hypogeal. The vicinity of Massafra, where artificialcaves were excavated around an open well, is hypogeal. Thisis a model brought by the Northern African refugees, whichwere escaping from the Vandals (5th century) and settled inthe plain between the two ravines (Madonna della Scala andSan Marco). The name Massa Afra was given to the resultingvillage. Recently, very interesting hypogeal structureshave been discovered in Emilia, in Romagna and in Marche.Their ichnography is various and complex: their destinationis uncertain. Many hypogeal cavities are known in Tuscany,in important cities as Siena and Chiusi, under many cities inLazio and in Puglia.5. Underground citiesKaymakli and Derinkuyu, in the Neveshir area, Cappadocia(Turkey) are the most famous underground cities. They areincredible examples of troglodyte villages, with dead end undergroundlabirynths to mislead invaders.Kaymakli looks like a common village, but a huge undergroundcity (Yeralti Sehri) was excavated in the tuff betweenthe 6th and the 10th century. It is articulated on eight levels,and it is 45 meters deep. The roads of the city are tunnels thatlead to granaries, cells, living places, chapels, tombs, stables.The buildings are gathered around a ventilation chimney: asort of human eight levels hive that was excavated more thanone thousands years ago.The underground city of Derinkuyu (deep well) is more fascinating:it is constituted by twelve underground levels. The inhabitantscould communicate by means of pipes, which werealso used for light and air. The common interpretation of thesesingular settlements is that they were shelters in case of wars,places where people gathered to protect themselves from enemies.During the 6th century, when Cappadocia was at risk of invasionby Persians and Arabs, the Byzantine Christians tookshelter in the secret tunnels leading to these underground cities.Derinkuyu could reach 10000 inahbitants, Kaymakli atleast 3000.Some researchers do not agree with this interpretation, as theyassert that if Christians could excavate the rock, also the invaderscould. The conquest of the town would have been difficultstill, since the soldiers would have walked narrow tunnelsin single files, but the inhabitants could be forced to surrenderby obstructing the ventilation system. Their interpretation hasan economical reason: these underground cities had a constanttemperature that granted warm winters and cool summers.More, such complex and elaborated excavations cannot be justifiedfor temporary reasons due to exceptional circumstances,but for more stable and long lasting settings.Smaller and less fascinating underground cities can be foundall over the world, as in Montréal. Under a contemporary citymade of glass and steel, there is a system of 32 kilometresof tunnels (the so called Réso) which connects museums,metro stations, bus terminal, hotels, shops (more than 2000)and about forty cinemas. People of Québec call it the ville intérieure,and Montreal as the nickname of Two levels town.The underground system is a modern architectural exercisein style: it was started in the sixties, and 500000 use it daily.In England, since the antiquity, Dover was the guardianagainst foreign invasions. There is a system of tunnels whichcan be compared to the underground system of London. Thedifference is that in Dover there is no railway, but the ghostsof history, from the Napoleonic Era to the Second World War.Part of this incredible military system of fortifications (the socalled Dover Western Heights) was built in 1779, when Franceand Spain threatened Great Britain. In the centuries, the systemexpanded until 1940, when Dover was the bulwark in theBattle of Britain.In more remote times, France had wide underground roomsthat could keep a hundred people. The chronology of theserooms is uncertain: some researchers consider a Late Ancient/ Early Medieval origin, the period of Barbarian Invasions andmigrations of people; others refer to a post Medieval period ofReligious Wars.Underground settlements in Italian towns have been ignoredfor centuries: this brought to the creation of urban legends incontrast with the recent result of archaeological researches (asin Osimo or Sant’Arcangelo di Romagna).The most ancient part of Massafra is the singular hypogeal villagewith hundreds dugouts (as in Matmata, Tunisia). A veryrecent research is focusing on the Hyppodamus scheme of themost ancient dogouts, which suggests a rational subdivision ofan uncoltivated Massa. These dugouts were excavated fromthe 5th to the 18th century, and people lived there until the19th century, when they were turned into deposits or stables.Fig. 4 Kaymaklı underground city, Turkey. External view, stone door and stairs view. (photo: L. 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