The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-06-11
MODERN CAVE DNHLRS
Natives of Cappadocia Are to
All lntentS TroglodyteS.
QUEER CAVE ABODES.
There Are at Least Fifty Thousand
and Some Have Nine Stories
Many Are Mere Shells Honey
combed With Chambers--Some

Many Are Mere shells Honey
combed With Chambers-Some
Rooms In Darkness Year Around.
]. II. Stillington Sterrett has writ
ten an instructive article for the IL
lustrated London News on the cave
dwellers of Cappadocia. From an
American standpoint the article is
interesting because of the fact that
there Is an organization In this coun.
try known as the Colorado Cliff Dwell
iugs Association, whose object Is to
protect and preserve the historical
cliff dwellings in Colorado.
IL is in Cappadocia, Asia Minor
Mr.. Sterrett says. that the real TWEEN
tieth century Troglodytes (cave
dwellers) are to be found. The whole
cave dwelling region of CappadocIa
he says, is of volcanic formation, com
posed of deep layer of pumice
stone, tufa or peperine, overlaid in
some places by rugged lava fields.
The pumice or tufa Is of incredible
thickness, but the overlad layer OF
lava is comparatively thin. and SO
soft that 1t can be dug away with the
thumb nail.
The caves are formed in cones, ex-
tending in height from so to 800 feet.
Many of them are in process of dis
lntegration, and In some the exter-
ior walls have been worn away to
such an extent that the inner cham
bers are visible frcm the outside.
Such exposed chambers, ii they lie
fairly toward the sun. are used /. for
drying grapes and other fruits.
There are easily 10000 of these
cone caves in Cappadocia. The caves
we're bored out with comparatively
| little trouble. One chamber % feet
long, 10 feet broad and 10 feet high
| was excavated by a single workman
in the short space of thirty days.
On entering the doorway Of any of
these cone dwellings, he says, the
| visitor find himself within spacious
| chamber, about the walls of which
! shelves and inches for the storage
of small household effects have been
cut into the stone. The stairways
1
wells or rounded chimneys, and the
ascent from the lower to the upper
| stories is made by means of ladder
holes cut into the rock.
The floors between the stories are
usually thick enough to sustain any
weight that might be put upon them,
but occasionally the excavators mis-.
calculated the thickness Of stone
door, with the result that they had
to cut out one lofty chamber where
they had intended to make two
AS many as nine stories are to be
found in single cone, but the usual
number Is two. three or four stories.
The number of stories can always be
indicated by the windows. The cave
dwelers utilize their windows as dove
cotes for pigeons. hosts of which flock
to the places provided for ihem.
The natives eat the eggs and flesh oil
the birds.
They are to all intents and purposes
Troglodytes, but IL we leave out OF
consideration the fact that thell
dwellings are at least partially under
ground, they differ in habits and Gus
toms in no whit from the ordinary
Turkish villagers with ordinary hum
drum surroundings"
sometimes the front of the house
Is built of blocks Of pumice stone
while all the rest Of the abode Is
subterranean, the cone of cliff beinl
used as an annex; but in most case!
a modern dwelling is excayated, no
in a cone, but in the face OF the
bluff, and thus becomes a cliff dwell
ing, properly so called. This is true
of the business street of the town o
Urgub,, where the front or facade
opening on the street is the only room
in the dwelling into which the ligh
comes. The other rooms are in mid
night darkness all the year round
The owner of such an abode can eX
tend his dwelling indefinitely into thu
bowels of the earth and no one neet
know aught of his enlarged residence
a feature which is not without its ad
vantages In land where tie wis
man conceals the fact that he i
wealthy. The interior chambers ar
used chiefly for graneries and storage
Even their chaff, which is made L
take the place of our hay, Is safel
slowed away in these dry and darl
chambers. In passing along the mai
street of Urgub the superficial obserN
er will not detect the slightest ind
cation that he is in the presence O
Trpglodyte dwellings, though he ma
quickly convince himself that such /
the fact The upland or plateau leye
of this region abounds in hummocks
bills and lofty pinnacles and they ar
;all used as the background aglins
which modern dwellings are built
; may even happen, as in the case 4
the palice or castle of Udj, that tn
, house of the owner OF vineyard
actually beneath the vineyard itself.
The date of the origin of the cav
dwellings of Cappadocia is in doub
They are ancient enough for Clcer
U to have made mention OF them an
I il has been asserted that the con
leaves of Oappadocia We're mhabite