Mysterious history comes to light: 5,000-year-old underground city in Mardin to open to visitors

In the Midyat district of Mardin, the fourth season of excavations has begun to uncover an underground city. The project started 4 years ago during work on historic streets and houses, when it was discovered that a cave being cleaned was not an isolated structure, but rather connected to various other spaces via tunnels.

The work is being meticulously carried out at two locations in the Ulu Cami neighborhood of the Estel region, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism's General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums, the Mardin Museum, and the Midyat Municipality.

The underground city, which has been found to span a very large area and is estimated to be approximately 5,000 years old based on findings, has seen 8,223 square meters of space and approximately 120 meters of connected tunnels revealed during the first and second phases of cleaning and excavation.

ANIMAL BONES DISCOVERED

In the underground city, which contains places of worship, silos, water wells, living quarters, wine presses, workshops, cisterns, and burial sites, as well as tunnels and corridors, researchers have found oil lamps, spindle whorls, hand mills, stone and glass beads, stone artifacts, bronze coins and jewelry, terracotta tools, and human and various animal bones dating back to different periods.

Restoration and Visitor Reception Center projects, prepared to bring the first and second phases—where work is nearing completion—into the tourism sector, have been approved by the Mardin Regional Board for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage.

The goal is to open these two phases of the underground city to tourism this year, with the aim of making it one of the most popular destination centers in Mesopotamia.