Departing from Karaman, along the Karaman-Kılbasan road, making a left turn after passing Kılbasan will lead you to the mountain.

The following volcanics have an age of around 1.95-2.05 million years old, which can be found in Kızıldağ, a cinder cone in the northeast of the main mountain.

Older Neogene rocks were also found, consisting of conglomerates, limestones and sandstones in the area of the caldera.

A lava flow covered the vent, which forced the pressure of the gas from the magma chamber to pile up and caused a large explosion, leaving a caldera behind.

[7] In fact, Çatalhöyük (ca 7500 BC), one of the earliest neolithic settlements in Anatolia, is located at the north-west of the volcano, and there are Hittite inscriptions on the hills at the south-east of the mountain,[8] belonging to a Great King Hartapu.

[10] Ancient Derbe, which is one of the towns Paul the Apostle had visited, is situated on the east slopes of the mountain.

There are ruins of early Byzantine settlements all around the mountain and the region is called Binbirkilise (English: Thousand and One Churches).