Evangelical archaeologists claim to find ‘Noah’s Ark’ on Turkish mountain, seek UNESCO status
A team of Chinese and Turkish evangelical explorers said recently that they believe they may have found Noah’s Ark.
The group, Noah’s Ark Ministries International found a structure four thousand meters high on Mount Ararat in Turkey.
They recovered wooden specimens that under carbon dating proved to be around 4,800 years old, which would’ve been the time of the Biblical flood.
A worker with Noah's Ark International Examines what he believes to be beams of Noah's ark./Credit: Noah’s Ark Ministries International
Dutch Ark researcher Gerrit Aalten has vouched for the ministry’s find.
“The significance of this find is that for the first time in history the discovery of Noah’s Ark is well documented and revealed to the worldwide community,” Aalten said at a press conference announcing the find according to Fox News.
“There’s a tremendous amount of solid evidence that the structure found on Mount Ararat in Eastern Turkey is the legendary Ark of Noah,” he said.
According to the Bible, God asked Noah to build an ark and fill it with two of every animal species. After the flood waters receded, the Bible says the ark came to rest on a mountain. Many believe that Mount Ararat, the highest point in the region, is where the ark and her inhabitants came aground.
Sightings of Noah’s Ark on Mount Ararat have been claimed many times, a number of which turned out to be a hoax. However in the 1960s and again in the 1970s aerial photos seemed to reveal the structure of an ancient boat. A documentary had been made about it. However many people, including some Christians, believed it was a hoax.
Of the latest finding, Yeung Wing-cheung, a Hong Kong documentary filmmaker said, “It’s not 100 percent that it is Noah’s Ark but we think it is 99.9 percent that this is it,” according to the AFP.
Yeung, who was with the 15-member team, said the structure had several compartments, some with wooden beams, which were believed to house animals.
They ruled out an established human settlement, noting one had never been found above 3,500 meters in the vicinity.
Local Turkish officials will ask the central government in Ankara to apply for UNESCO World Heritage status so the site can be protected while a major archaeological dig is conducted.
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