Was Noah’s Ark Found? Remains May Have Actually Been Discovered

Although many believe the Noah’s Ark story is simply an ancient myth and a foreboding warning about God’s wrath, a team of scientists embarked on a journey to see if the story may actually be rooted in truth and if the Ark ever existed.  

The Earth’s creation story, as told in the Bible, has largely been denied as a factual explanation for how the Earth came to be. Even though this belief was floating around, a few dubious scientists have come to believe that Noah’s Ark may have actually been real and that it’s not just a fictional story.

After he was surely confident that the water had receded, Noah unlatched the doors of his Ark and set the animals free to thrive again in the new world. In 2009, with the location of Ararat in mind, an expedition team of scientists went to see if they could uncover any traces of archeological evidence. 

At a peak of 16,584 feet, the top of the mountain is engulfed with snow year-round. 1829 was the earliest recorded exploration.   

Dr. Friedrich Parrot is the 1829 explorer who scaled the mountain. He explained that its sacredness is why “no human being is allowed to approach it.” 50 years later, however, explorer James Bryce made an incredible discovery that changed everything. 

Although Bryce didn’t reach the mountain’s peak, he did make it just above the tree line where he saw the snow slopes. That was where he made the accidental discovery that lent some proof to the Bible’s original story. 

He came across an ancient beam on the snowy slopes of Mount Ararat. It, quite possibly, could have been remnants of the Ark, but, much to his disappointment, the beam was much too big to have been transported all the way down the mountain. When he went back to England, the news of this discovery transformed into research madness. 

Another expedition was on the horizon in 1960. A man named Ron Wyatt took a photo of an 18-mile area of the peak. In the image, there was something that sort of resembled a boat, so yet another expedition was in line.  

In eastern Turkey’s Durupinar site, a big structure can be found 18 miles south of the modern Ararat. Even more intriguing is that it seems that it could be an ark. Ron Wyatt wanted to prove that it indeed was. 

The scan from the device detected that formation in the earth was about 538 feet, which was close to the estimated measurements of the biblical ark (an estimated 515 feet using ancient Egyptian cubits).

Despite this exciting discovery, the boulders were found miles away from any bodies of water, but Fasold still felt confident they were on the Ark. Many remained skeptical that the story was a mere myth and nothing more. 

The generator, as many suspected, was nothing more than a “sounding rod” with some additional equipment. They also stated that the drogue stones were merely local gravestones in the surrounding area. As a result, the theory about the Durupinar site was rejected and forgotten. 

There are similar stories in the Sumerian Epic of Ziusurda, Plato’s works, and Chinese and North American Hopi cultures. Even though the reason behind the flood varied depending on the culture, it was agreed upon that, at one point, the earth was covered in water. 

While the epic is a very exciting story, one of its central themes revolves around Gilgamesh’s search for immortality, which links to one of the many versions of the flood.

On his journey, he faced men, monsters, gods, and, most profoundly, Utnapishtim, an elderly man who claimed he had found the secret to everlasting life. Desiring to learn the same secret, Gilgamesh enveloped himself in listening to Utnapishtim’s tale.

On the boat, he brought his family, and helpers, as well as “all the animals on the field.” Apparently, not too long after Utnapishtim finished the project, the sky opened up and produced a storm that cleared away everything in its path. Despite this, Utnapishtim stayed alive.

This tale was inscribed on stone tablets, and even though the physical ones had been missing for millennia, the tale is popular across Babylon and other parts of the world.

The Satapatha Brahmana not only holds a major place within the Shukla Yajurveda-a guide to Vedic ceremonies that offers detailed explanations and rituals but also comprises various collections of prose texts, including one that details their version of the flood narratives through the story of Manu.

Part of his instructions included that he take along with him seven sages, one of each animal species, all plant seeds, and the sacred Vedas.

It details that Zeus then unleashed a flood that covered the world, ending all life. However, the heroic couple, Deucalion and Pyrrha, managed to survive and became the progenitors of a new era.

The story has been told and passed down through generations and generations in ancient times, but also in contemporary times, as well. 2014’s epic Noah, directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Russell Crowe, is an example of a modern (yet Hollywood-ized) film, about the tale of Noah’s Ark. Although this probably is the most popular example, it isn’t the only film that’s been made about the story. 

In the biblical passage, for example, Noah is apparently instructed to a pair of each animal onto the Ark. In another passage, it claims that Noah was supposed to take “seven pairs of every kind of clean animal” and “one pair of every kind of unclean animal,” and “seven pairs of every kind of bird.”

Obviously, this was a treacherous adventure given that Ararat’s snowy hillsides and exposed landscape made the climb much more difficult. And, the conditions and weather weren’t the only two issues that the climbers faced. Mount Ararat is also located at the heart of a military zone. 

This journey began when Yuen stumbled on a news article in the 1970s. The article reported a satellite photo of Mount Ararat in Turkey and supposedly showed the image of Noah’s Ark. This ignited their interest in the Ark’s existence, which led NAMI to undertake a journey to reveal the truth behind this ancient tale.

Many foreigners have an “Ararat Visa” to enter the mountain. Even if you do receive a special badge,  you’re still only allowed to travel certain paths, which, if you wander away from them, can be deadly. 

Despite the harsh weather, some adversity didn’t stop them. They were determined and convinced to find evidence of the Ark, so they kept going until they did. 

At that height, they discovered something remarkable – a cave. The cave, though, wasn’t even the best part of the discovery, it’s what resided in it. The team had maybe thought that they had finally come across what they’d been looking for!

Man Fai-Yuen, one of the NAMI experts, stated, “The search team and I personally entered a wooden structure high on the mountain. The structure is partitioned into different spaces. We believe that the wooden structure we encountered is the same structure recorded in the historical accounts and the same ancient boat indicated by the locals.” 

The next step after that was to figure out the materials’ origins. The Bible mentioned that the Ark was built from “gopher wood,” but experts weren’t exactly sure what was meant by that. 

There are theories that have sprung up that it’s reeds, another that its wood is reinforced with tar, and another that it’s just some kind of tree. Even though finding out what “gopher wood” is isn’t truly important, it would be different if they had found a new type of wood altogether. That information would certainly help them.

The documented footage of what the explorers witnessed on the mountain caused some significant conversations. Experts from all around the world examined the video, and it wasn’t long before people had serious doubts about what they had seen. 

Some people claimed that the wooden beams in the footage were sourced from the Black Sea and brought by the guide to the mountain. There were others who believed that the structures had been built before the team arrived at the cave and started filming.  

Bulut responded that it would be impossible to carry “such an amount of timber to a strictly monitored area and to bring it up to an altitude of 4,000 meters.” Bulut’s response was taken directly from NAMI’s website.  

One example is if the ancient biblical story of the Great Flood and the tale of Noah’s Ark are actually based on real events, and only a handful of people and animals are rescued, then an expansive study on biology, geology, and genealogy of the planet would have to be reconsidered.

Since biologists heavily rely on DNA codes and sequences to track changes and compare them to fossils, the discovery of a global wipeout, along with the re-emergence of plants and wildlife, would mean that every single aspect of biology that we know to this day would be erroneous.