A team from Istanbul Technical University (İTÜ) and Ağrı İbrahim Çeçen University (AİÇÜ)has been researching an area in which they believe lie the remains of Biblical Noah’s Ark.
A research team from Istanbul Technical University (İTÜ), Andrew University, and Ağrı İbrahim Çeçen University (AİÇÜ) carried out its first study of the site in December 2022. The group, which included academics specialized in geophysics, chemistry and geoarchaeology research, collected 30 samples consisting of soil and rock fragments during their investigations in the region. According to the results, it was determined that there were human activities in the region from the period between 5500 and 3000 BCE.
Professor Faruk Kaya stated, “With the dating, it is not possible to say that the ship is here. Extensive research is required for this to emerge. In the upcoming period, we have reached an agreement to collaborate on joint research led by Istanbul Technical University (İTÜ), Andrew University, and Ağrı İbrahim Çeçen University (AİÇÜ). In the future, these three universities will continue their work in this field.”
The site was first discovered by map engineer Capt. Ilhan Durupınar in 1959 during a reconnaissance flight to map the eastern Anatolia region in Turkey. The site is located 8 miles south of the Greater Mount Ararat summit at an elevation of about 2,000 meters above sea level. The size and shape of the formation led to its promotion by some believers as the petrified ruins of the original Noah’s Ark.
The “boat formation” appears to be the “exact length” of the ark as written in the Bible – which is around 150 meters, or 300 cubits in Biblical terms.
This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark shall be three hundred amot, its width fifty amot, and its height thirty amot. (Genesis 6:15)
Geologists however claim that the mountainous bump that was discovered half a century ago is nothing more than a unique rock formation.
In 2021, researchers carried out 3D scans of Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) survey. They claimed to have discovered a man-made boat structure beneath the ground. Next summer, they will carry out a survey using ground-penetrating radar (GPR) technology.
If the new discovery is confirmed, it will prove the historical accuracy of the Biblical account of the flood during the time of Noah which describes the final resting spot of the ark as being in the Ararat mountains.
