cave dwelling 225
Defensive structuresCave villages often incorporated defensive structures for protection. In medieval
Cappadocia, the population built large and sophisticated underground refuges used as
shelters during enemy attack. Entry into the refuges was limited, using a number of dif-
ferent methods. Sometimes entrances were hidden in interior courtyards or underground
cellars, or camouflaged in fields. They were usually small, allowing only one person bent
over to pass through at a time, thus hindering the transport of either weapons or excava-
tion tools. In one refuge a sharp left turn immediately after the tunnel’s entrance impeded
the use of large battering rams to force open the door. Rolling stone doors that could be
moved by two people were used to close off rooms when strategically expedient. These
stone doors also had holes in the middle to see out of and for attacking enemies with
arrows or lances. Some refuges contained escape routes as well. A few of the refuges were
quite large: the underground fortress of Filiktepe contained over 100 rooms with seven
independent systems, as well as 40 rolling stone doors and four wells. It is estimated to
have housed 300–400 people for perhaps weeks at a time. Although built as temporary
shelters, the larger refuges contained many features that would allow the population to
live comfortably for extended periods of time. They included living quarters, stalls, stor-
age rooms, and cult centers. They had ventilation ducts for air circulation and wells for
water. Rooms were linked by corridors for ease of communication. Some refuges were
built facing south, so that they received the longest hours of sunlight in winter, providing
the space with heat. The underground refuges were, in essence, self-contained cities
(Bixio, Castellani, and Succhiarelli, 2002: 157–165, 182–187, 209–278).
In some places cave villages employed camouflage. In Sicily residences were at times
indistinguishable from empty caves and thus invisible to passing armies or tax collectors
(Messina, 2008: 13; Giglio, 2002: 5). In Tunisia both underground courtyard houses
and cave residences carved horizontally into the sides of mountains were difficult to see
in the desert landscape (Besana and Mainetti, 2000: 5, 11). Access into cave dwellings
was often limited, making it difficult for strangers to enter. In southern Italy and Sicily
entrances were made accessible only by narrow staircases, sinuous tunnels, or constricted
passageways that fit just one person at a time. Doors were sometimes hidden (Messina,
2008: 24–25; dell’Aquila, 2004: 53). The populations of some cave settlements in
southern Italy and Sicily built communal defensive structures such as common rooms
with towers and sentry boxes, removable wooden bridges, masonry walls, or citadels.
Inside the villages, the populations made sure they had good communications among
the various rooms (Uggeri, 1974: 200–202; Navedoro, 2006: 12; Messina, 2008: 24,
31; Fonseca, 1988: 17). The troglodyte settlement of Douiret in Tunisia had only one
narrow road leading up to the village. In addition, the residents here built walls around
their houses for protection as well as a refuge fortress with granaries (Besana and
Mainetti, 2000: 11, 21, 38). Thus the populations of cave settlements worked together
to protect their homes and villages, using a variety of defensive strategies and structures.
Hydraulic systemsCave settlements in many places included intricate systems of water collection and
transportation. In southern Italy, cisterns were dug into the ground to catch rainwa-
ter, while canals and aqueducts carved out of rock collected and transported water to