Although there is no documentary evidence to prove when these structures were carved out of the earth, it is probable that work on some of them began in the Hittite period.

As Venessa, the ancient Avanos was the third most important town in the Kingdom of Cappadocia (332BC-17AD) according to the geographer Strabo. Although it was the site of an important temple of Zeus, nothing remains of it today. In Roman and Byzantine times Avanos had a large Christian population who were responsible for the rock-cut Dereyamanlı Kilisesi. Unusually, this is still occasionally used even today.

Most of the visible remains of Avanos’ history date from the 19th and early 20th centuries and take the form of many impressive stone houses, mostly built by the now-lost Greek and Armenian populations.

These houses are to be found in the older part of the city on the northern bank of the river. Avanos expanded rapidly in the early 2000s and there is now a lot of modern housing on the southern side of the river which was extensively landscaped and developed for recreational purposes in the years after 2010.