Archaeologists from three universities in Turkey have formed a team called the “Mount Ararat and Noah’s Ark Research Team” to investigate a site near the Mount Ararat summit that they believe could be the remains of Noah’s Ark. The team, consisting of researchers from Istanbul Technical University, Andrew University, and Agri Ibrahim Cecen University, has been conducting extensive studies on the craggy terrain in search of any evidence of the biblical ark.
According to the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, the team collected dirt and rock samples from the site and analyzed them at Istanbul Technical University. The results indicated the presence of human activity in the area between 5500 and 3000 B.C.E., during the Chalcolithic period. However, Dr. Faruk Kaya, the vice rector professor at Agri Ibrahim Cecen University, emphasized that these findings are not enough to conclusively prove the existence of Noah’s Ark. The researchers still have a long way to go before they can potentially provide evidence supporting the biblical account.
The story of Noah’s Ark is shared among the three major Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In the book of Genesis, Noah and his family are instructed by God to build an ark to survive a catastrophic flood. The Quran also includes this narrative.
The search for Noah’s Ark has been ongoing for centuries, with various theories and speculations about its whereabouts. The mountains of Ararat have been a focal point due to the mention of its landing in the Genesis text.
The Durupınar site, located in the town of Doğubayazıt, Turkey, is the current focus of the team’s investigation. However, there is controversy surrounding this site, as many archaeologists do not believe that physical evidence of the ark has been discovered there. Geologist Lorence Gene Collins even published a paper arguing that the area is simply a rock formation and not indicative of the ark’s remains.
Nonetheless, the researchers from Istanbul Technical University, Agri Ibrahim Cecen University, and Andrew University propose that the Durupınar site may indeed be the location of the ark’s ruins. One of the key factors supporting this belief is the correlation between the dimensions of the formation and the ark described in the Bible. The ark’s dimensions, as mentioned in the book of Genesis, are three hundred cubits by fifty cubits by thirty cubits.
However, the formation has been affected by landslides over time, causing damage to its original features. Despite these challenges, the team remains committed to their research and continues to explore the possibility of finding conclusive evidence of Noah’s Ark near Mount Ararat.
