The Great Frost and the Underground Cities
Shariq Ali
Valueversity
Many ancient traditions around the world echo a strange story — a moment in time when the Earth was suddenly gripped by an intense and unexpected cold. Zoroastrian traditions call it Ayyam-e-Malkush — a terrifying three-year age of ice. The story claims that people were instructed to build underground shelters to survive.
The question is: Is this just a myth, or could there be a hidden truth behind it?
Derinkuyu — The City Carved Beneath the Earth
Derinkuyu, in Turkey’s Cappadocia region, offers a stunning glimpse into this mystery. Nearly 2,800 years old, this underground city was carved 85 meters below the surface and could house up to 20,000 people. It wasn’t just a cave — it was a complete 18-storey settlement with wells, schools, places of worship, stables, and an advanced ventilation system.
In 1963, a Turkish homeowner, while repairing his house, discovered a strange passage behind a wall… and thus an entire hidden world came back to light.
This City Was Not Alone
Similar underground systems exist across the world:
Giza (Egypt): vast tunnels and subterranean chambers
Tikal (Guatemala): an 800-km tunnel network beneath the Maya civilization
Zhejiang (China): 24 mysterious man-made caves
Erdstall tunnels (Europe): thousands of narrow passages with unknown purpose
Why did so many different civilizations develop the same idea?
What compelled humans to go underground?
Was Ayyam-e-Malkush a Real Climate Disaster?
Science tells us that around twelve thousand years ago, Earth went through a sudden cold period known as the Younger Dryas. Climate collapsed rapidly, ice melted and froze again, and humanity struggled for survival.
It’s possible that this scientific event later transformed into religious traditions — inspiring the construction of underground shelters.
Or… Was There Another Fear?
Some experts ask:
Were these cities built to escape invading enemies?
To survive natural disasters?
Or was there some threat whose traces time has erased?
What is astonishing is this:
Civilizations that didn’t even know the wheel were somehow capable of engineering marvels.
Carving an 85-meter-deep city without modern machinery isn’t easy even today.
Perhaps There Was a Lost Civilization
Derinkuyu, the Giza tunnels, the Maya passageways — all point towards one idea:
Our past is far less simple than we imagine.
The silent worlds sleeping beneath our feet still watch us quietly, as if inviting us toward a forgotten secret.