Manazan Caves 5;
Manazan Caves, located within the borders of Taşkale Town of Karaman city, are composed of completely human carved mass housings with five storeys, on a high rock block in the limestone area north to the Yeşildere Valley. The first two storeys consist of various cell-like cubicles. Other storeys, being carved on the high rock block in the middle, are named as Kumkale (Sand Castle), At Meydanı (Hippodrome) and Ölüler Meydanı (Deads Square), respectively. Going upstairs is managed through narrow corridors and chimneys. In the middle of each storey, there are big galleries and cell-like cubicles opened to these galleries. In the first two storeys, a few burial chambers and two chapels were discovered. Furthermore, several dead body parts in the top storey, the gallery known to be as Ölüler Meydanı (Deads Square), are discovered. A woman’s dead body of Byzantium age was found here and has been exhibited since then in the Karaman Museum. Manazan caves delay the decomposition of organic materials as the caves’ clay rates help keeping the heat and humidity stable in the limestone. Those caves might have been carved and used for the sake of that feature in addition to the security reasons.
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