A Chinese and Turkish exploration team and documentary filmmakers said that they may have found Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey. The explorers from Hong Kong-based Noah's Ark Ministries International (NAMI) announced the find at a press conference on April 25, 2010.
Institute for Creation Research president and Noah's Ark expert Dr. John Morris has made over a dozen trips to Mount Ararat between 1971 and 1990.
"It's an exciting possibility," he said. "But whether it's really the Ark, I can't be entirely sure."
Dr. Morris studied photographs and video clips sent to him two weeks ago. He noted there aren't any images to help place where exactly on Ararat the site is.
"It doesn't look like what I expected it to be," he said.1
NAMI reported that the structure possibly sits at more than 4,000 meters (13,123 feet).2 The exploration team reported that it found partitioned spaces within the structure and construction elements predating the use of metal nails. According to NAMI, a team entered the wooden structure in 2008 and took still photographs. They returned in October 2009, accompanied this time by a film crew.
Yeung Wing-Cheung, one of the filmmakers on the team, told news outlets, "It's not 100 percent that it is Noah's Ark, but we think it is 99.9 percent that this is it."3
Local Turkish officials plan to apply for the site to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site, after which more archaeological research can be conducted.
References
- For more comments on this find by Dr. John Morris, see Kurczy, S. Doubt cast on Noah's ark found in Turkey. The Christian Science Monitor. Posted on csmonitor.com April 28, 2010.
- Press Conference report. Posted on Noah's Ark Ministries International website at noahsarksearch.net.
- Has Noah's Ark Been Found on Turkish Mountaintop? Fox News. Posted on foxnews.com April 27, 2010, accessed april 27, 2010.
* Ms. Dao is Assistant Editor at the Institute for Creation Research.
Article posted on April 28, 2010, updated May 5, 2010.
