Everyone knows the biblical story: God sent down 40 days of rain, wiping out all living creatures on Earth, as vengeful retribution for humanity’s immorality. Only one vessel would survive. Noah, its captain and builder, rounded up two of every animal on Earth to save a scrap of life from the Great Flood. After the catastrophe, Noah and his family landed on a mountain and began to repopulate the Earth.
But is there evidence of Noah’s Ark? A number of recent expeditions claim they found physical evidence of the ark in the mountains of Turkey and Iran. Even doubters have to admit that the evidence of the Great Flood is convincing. But just like the recently discovered proof of the crucifixion, some questions still persist. So, was Noah’s Ark found? Was Noah’s Ark even real? The only way to answer these queries is an in-depth examination of the physical evidence.
Also important to remember is that the book of Genesis, which tells the story of Noah, was written thousands of years ago, and just like the Bible changes over time, a critical examination of the evidence surrounding Noah and his ark is crucial. After all, Jesus wasn’t always white. People have been searching for Noah’s Ark for thousands of year – will it be found in our lifetime?
The “Boat-Shaped Object” On Mount Judi Might Be The Ark
The search for Noah’s Ark is old, but recent expeditions have found startling physical evidence that the ark still exists.
For example, in the 1980s, Ron Wyatt found traces of what he believed was Noah’s Ark at the Durupınar Site in Turkey. It isn’t on Mount Ararat, where Genesis claims Noah landed, but according to the Qur’an, the ark is actually on Mount Judi.
Wyatt argued that the “boat-shaped object” was Noah’s Ark, and from the photographic evidence, it certainly appears that Wyatt is correct to identify the shape with a ship. As for how a massive ship came to rest on the side of a mountain, a Great Flood seems to be a convincing explanation.
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The Object Might Just Be A Natural Land Formation
Despite the resemblance to a ship, many scientists argue that Wyatt’s “boat-shaped object” is actually a natural land formation. It was revealed in 1948 after a series of earthquakes pushed up the rocks, creating the impression of a ship.
Geologist Lorence Collins also argues that there is no wood – petrified or otherwise – at the Durupinar Site; instead, the interior parts of the “boat” are composed of volcanic basalt and andesite, consistent with a geological explanation rather than a biblical one.
Still, the allure of searching for any boat-shaped object in Turkey has led at least one person to claim that he found Noah’s Ark on Google Maps.
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Photo: Wellcome Images / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0
Renaissance Scholars Tried To Calculate The Exact Size Of The Ark
Modern efforts to find Noah’s Ark are not the first of their kind; many biblical stories have motivated scholars to research this ancient history. In particular, however, the ark is a frequent subject of investigation and scrutiny.
In the Renaissance, for example, a number of intellectuals devoted their energy to the mystery of the ark. Seventeenth-century Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher tried to reconstruct the story of the ark. Because the blueprint of the ark was designed by God, Kircher believed it contained divine laws of symmetry and proportion. He also devoted himself to understanding the interior organization of a ship designed to carry every animal known to man.
Today, scholars use different tools to reconstruct the story. Using the techniques and technology of modern science, there is much more evidence for the ark today than ever before.
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Photo: Ras67 / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
Today, Searches For The Ark Focus On Mount Ararat In Turkey
Genesis provides clues about the location of Noah’s Ark, even stating exactly where Noah landed. After a flood that submerged the Earth for 150 days, the waters receded:
“The water receded steadily from the Earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.”
Ararat, in the far eastern part of Turkey on the border with Iran, has been the focus of dozens of searches for Noah’s Ark. In 1876, British historian James Bryce found a four-foot-long slab of wood on the mountain. Since then, ark hunters have swarmed to Ararat.
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Photo: Web Gallery of Art / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
The Ark Is Sitting On Top Of Mount Ararat, According To Genesis
According to scholarly texts dating back centuries, Noah’s Ark can be found on the peak of Mount Ararat. Over 700 years ago, Marco Polo claimed that the ark sits on top of the “Mountain of Noah’s Ark,” an enormous Armenian mountain covered in snow – just like Mount Ararat. As recently as 2010, a group claims that they found pieces of Noah’s Ark exactly where the Bible said it would be found.
Turkish and Chinese explorers climbed Mount Ararat and found something beneath the snow. Yeung Wing-cheung, a filmmaker who went on the expedition, said, “It’s not 100 percent that it is Noah’s Ark, but we think it is 99.9 percent that this is it.” Archeologists and historians remain skeptical without clearer physical proof.
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Photo: Michel Wolgemut, Wilhelm Pleydenwurff / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
Noah’s Ark May Never Be Found, But The Great Flood Is All But Confirmed
To date, much of the physical evidence showing the existence of Noah’s Ark is incomplete. Ron Wyatt’s discovery has largely been discredited, even by Snopes, which determines that the boat-shaped object is a naturally occurring formation.
Other efforts to find the ark itself have encountered similar problems. A 1993 documentary on CBS that presented physical evidence of the ark’s discovery was later proved to be a hoax. The piece of wood said to be from the ark was actually from a California railroad track.
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Photo: Nantes Museum of Arts / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
There Is Evidence That A Massive Flood Swept Civilization Away
Stories of great floods exist in many ancient societies. The Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest pieces of literature in history, tells of a devastating flood sent by the gods. One of the gods even tells a man to “[t]ear down the house and build a boat. Abandon wealth and seek living beings. Make all living beings go up into the boat.”
The Romans and Greeks also told tales of Deucalion and Pyrrha, who built an ark to survive a flood sent by Zeus. And then there’s Noah, the most famous ark-builder, who, according to the book of Genesis, survived the flood and saved his family and two of every animal.
According to scientists, there is clear physical evidence – such as traces of an ancient civilization found underwater – that the Great Flood did really happened.
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Photo: yeowatzup / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0
Enormous Floods Plagued Ancient Mesopotamia
Many of flood legends originated in Mesopotamia, where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers brought devastating floods on an unpredictable schedule. Even today, the land formations hold signs of massive floods.
Archeologists have shown that there were a number of serious floods in Mesopotamia between 4000 and 2000 BCE. One of the cities between the rivers was Uruk, which was the largest city in the world around 3000 BCE, with a population of 50,000 people. Even a relatively minor flood would have had a devastating impact on the people of these early cities.
Floods were also a common occurrence; either one destructive flood or a series of recurring floods could have birthed the many stories of the Great Flood.
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Photo: Google Cultural Institute / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
Over 7,000 Years Ago, There Was An Enormous Flood In The Black Sea
Water rushed through the Bosphorus at 200 times the flow of Niagara Falls. Nearly 100,000 square miles of land were suddenly submerged, and potentially thousands of people living on the shores of the freshwater Black Sea were swept away. According to William Ryan and Walter Pitman, the Black Sea experienced a deluge over 7,000 years ago that may be the root of the Great Flood stories.
Around 5600 BCE, the Black Sea was a freshwater lake, far below sea level. But as the Mediterranean rose, the seawater pushed a channel through the Bosphorus to the Black Sea, raising the level of the sea by over 100 feet.
The catastrophic flood would have been devastating for the people who lived along the sea; afterwards, these people may have scattered across the Near East and Europe, spreading stories of the cataclysmic event.
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Photo: Hanay / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
Underwater Research Has Discovered Evidence Of Flood Victims
A great flood would inevitably leave behind archeological evidence, but until recently, none had been found. One archeologist, however, thought that the evidence might still be hidden underwater. Robert Ballard, the scientist who discovered the remains of the Titanic, led a scientific expedition far beneath the surface of the Black Sea. He found evidence of human habitations that were 7,000 years old – and more than 300 feet below the surface of the Black Sea.
As archeologist Fred Hiebert explains, “What we are looking at is a culture that is definitely thousands of years old.” The evidence points to a flood of biblical proportions. “The flood is an event that is geologically known, and for us to find a structure in 150 meters of water means that these people were definitely living there before it flooded, so it is pre-Greek. It is a different world and it deserves a great deal of attention and years of study to help us truly identify who these people were.”
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Photo: Master of the Rouen Echevinage / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
Is Finding Noah’s Ark Even Possible?
Some scientists don’t believe Noah’s Ark will ever be found. Underwater archeologist Robert Ballard says, “it’s foolish to think you will ever find a ship.” If, as Genesis claims, Noah’s Ark was made out of cypress wood, it has almost certainly been destroyed in the last 7,000 years.
Biologist Todd Wood points out another problem: the ark almost certainly would have been taken apart after the flood. “It would have been prime timber after the flood,” Wood said. “If you just got off the ark, and there’s no trees, what are you going to build your house out of? You’ve got a huge boat made of wood, so let’s use that.” Wood argues that the ark was scavenged for building materials, meaning it will almost certainly never be found.
Noah’s Ark may never be located. Still, physical evidence of the Great Flood is an indication that there may be some truth behind the biblical story.
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Photo: Simon de Myle / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
The Search For Noah’s Ark Continues
Explorers will continue to search for evidence of Noah’s Ark, climbing mountain peaks in Turkey and Iran, looking for boat-shaped objects. And if an ancient boat was discovered on top of a mountain, as Marco Polo claimed, it might indicate a flood even more massive than the Black Sea Deluge.
Still, the lack of clear physical evidence for a global flood or for the ark itself does not mean they didn’t exist. Until more evidence can be found, Noah’s Ark will remain a Biblical story, and people will continue to search for proof.
