Archaeologists are excavating a roughly 1,500-year-old underground city discovered near Hüyük village in the Orta district of Çankırı, in central Anatolia. A team of six specialists and 10 laborers is conducting the dig under the direction of Çankırı Museum Curator Yusuf Demirci.
The project has received 105,000 YTL (approximately $70,000) in funding from the Çankırı Governor's Office and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Excavators have so far exposed chapels, corridors, rooms, gates with locking mechanisms, and other architectural features arranged in a maze-like layout.
Researchers have confirmed six distinct construction layers within the city and have physically reached the third. Demirci noted that additional levels below the sixth cannot be ruled out.
Governor Ali Haydar Öner told reporters that the scope of the finds has prompted planners to extend the dig by at least one month, pending the availability of extra funding. The first season was originally scheduled to wrap up within days of his announcement in October 2006.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in October 2006, in its own words.