It could support that many people because it was built as a layered refuge, not a single cave. The Turkish Ministry of Culture says the city includes rooms along narrow passages, ventilation stacks, a chapel, and a well. Big Think also reports that Derinkuyu could house up to 20,000 people and describes it as one of the largest underground cities in the world.
That design solves the hard problems of underground living: air, water, storage, and defensible access. Once you can close off the passages, move air through shafts, keep water available, and store food, people can stay underground far longer than most people imagine. Derinkuyu was basically an emergency city carved out of soft volcanic rock.
Sources
More in Science
Are alien abduction experiences real or explainable by psychology and sleep?
Most alien abduction stories fit sleep paralysis, vivid dreaming, suggestion, and memory effects better than literal extraterrestrial contact.
🔬 Science 5 weeks ago 3 min readCould a large undiscovered primate like Bigfoot still exist in North America?
It’s extraordinarily unlikely. A breeding population would leave bones, DNA, roadkill, or fossils, and North America has no credible evidence of that.
🔬 Science 5 weeks ago 2 min readDoes a true self actually exist?
Psychology treats the true self more like a useful belief or story than a measurable inner object.
🔬 Science 2 weeks ago 2 min read