Archaeologists Believe They Discovered the Remains of Noah’s Ark

Prior to the 18th century, the large majority of people took the story of Noah’s Ark to be gospel. They believed that Noah really did build the ark and that he filled the ark with animals to start a brand new civilization after a big flood. However, as scientists have started to question the authenticity of religious stories and technology has become more advanced, skeptics have started to wonder whether the story of Noah’s Ark is just that: a story. 

But what happened to Noah, his ark, and the animals onboard? According to the Bible, Noah waited until the waters subsided before setting up camp on the “mountains of Ararat.” First, he released a raven and a dove into the wild and then he released the remaining animals he kept safe during the storms. As a result, Noah was able to repopulate the Earth after such a tragic turn of events. 

To understand a little more about this expedition, we need to learn a little more about Mount Ararat itself. Topping the charts as the highest peak in Turkey, this mountain stands at a whopping 5,137 meters (16,854 ft) and sits close to the borders of both Armenia and Iranian. In fact, the people of Armenia believe Mount Ararat to be the holiest mountain in the world. Scaling this mountain isn’t easy, though.

That man was Dr. Friedrich Parrot, who found out in 1829 just how sacred the mountain was to those who lived nearby. Writing about his ascent, he wrote, “all the Armenians are firmly persuaded that Noah’s Ark remains to this very day on the top of Ararat, and that, in order to preserve it, no human being is allowed to approach it.” However, that hasn’t stopped others from trying – including the famed explorer Marco Polo.

In 1876, James Bryce made his way up Mount Ararat, but this wasn’t a mission of glory. He didn’t want to become famous for finding buried treasure or finding the ark. He was a historian, explorer, statesman, and Professor of Civil Law at the prestigious Oxford University, and was more interested in gathering facts about the mountain and story of Noah’s Ark. He just wanted to see the mountain for himself, and that’s exactly what he did.

As James Bryce attempted to climb the giant mountain before him, he just happened to look to the side of his path. For most of the journey, he had been surrounded by inconspicuous rocks and boulders that weren’t worthy of too much attention. But then, suddenly, he spotted something out of the ordinary. Poking out of the snow was what looked like a large wooden beam, and he couldn’t quite believe it. 

While James Bryce’s discovery was at the back of their minds, scientists wondered whether he had indeed proved that the story of Noah’s Ark was true. They stewed over this for decades, wondering how Noah could have traveled the stormy flood water with so many animals in his boat and what had happened to him when he eventually got to Mount Ararat. But then something happened in the 1960s that made them question everything they thought they knew.

For years, something has plagued the minds of historians. According to the Bible, Noah and his ark found their home in the mountains of Ararat. But, technically, there is only one Mount Ararat. This led them to believe that the mountains of Ararat weren’t actually the mountain that so many explorers had tried to climb over the years. Instead, it was a larger region that sprawled out around Mount Ararat itself. 

Wyatt was convinced that he had found the buried remains of Noah’s ark, so he made his way to the Durupınar site with geophysicist John Baumgardner and salvage expert David Fasold by his side. As soon as the two newcomers saw the site for themselves, they were also convinced that the shipwreck was buried just below the surface. To prove this, they decided to use a controversial tool called a “frequency generator.”

As they surveyed the area for more relics of the past, they also stumbled across numerous large drogue stones, unlike anything they had ever seen before. These stones had holes in the top of them, and Fasold believed that they had once served as the anchors to Noah’s ark. In his expert opinion, the stones would have been used during particularly high winds to stabilize the boat and keep it from toppling over. 

Although the expedition team thought they had uncovered the truth behind the story of Noah’s Ark, their claims weren’t as well-received as they hoped. As they took their findings to geologists and archaeologists, they were instead met with criticism and their methods were laughed off. In fact, they were told that their “frequency generator” wasn’t practical or helpful in the slightest and that the drogue stones were actually just grave markers. 

What explorers find most intriguing about the story of Noah’s Ark is that it’s not necessarily unique. Since the dawn of time, humans have been told stories of gods and deities flooding the world to start anew. Their plans? To extinguish the current human life and make way for a second chance. These stories have been seen in countless religions and in regard to countless gods, from Hindu gods to Greek myths and ancient Chinese stories. 

One of the oldest known stories revolving around a great flood is the Epic of Gilgamesh. This epic poem can be traced back over 4,000 years, and the story can today be seen on the original stone tablets that it was written on during Babylonian times. But what does it say? Well, this poem follows the king Gilgamesh as he goes on a journey to find eternal life. On his travels, he finds Utnapishtim.

Utnapishtim told him that he was warned by the god Ea that there would be a great flood and that he needed to protect himself by building a large boat. But Ea didn’t just want Utnapishtim to save himself. The god wanted Utnapishtim to save himself, the workers who had helped to build the boat, and the animals who lived in his fields. So, that’s exactly what he did. 

Although Utnapishtim felt safe on the boat, he was also scared. He didn’t know when the storms would subside, and he didn’t know when they would be able to get off the boat again. But thankfully, he didn’t have to wait too long. When the rains came to an end and Utnapishtim steered the boat safely towards a mountain, he was finally able to step foot on dry land again. To celebrate, he first released a dove and a raven.

Well, it’s hard to know for sure. But one thing we do know is that the story has become more and more recognizable – and not just because so many explorers are venturing across the world to try and find pieces of the lost Noah’s ark. As well as the many historical writings associated with the story of Noah’s Ark, we’ve also been blessed with modern retellings of this ancient story.

It’s important to note that these stories of the big flood are all fairly similar, there are also a few little differences between them all. In fact, there are discrepancies in the Noah’s Ark story itself – especially when it comes to the animals. While one passage of the Bible states that Noah took animals in pairs, a later passage states that he took “seven pairs of every kind of clean animal.” 

Back in 2007, a group of explorers from Turkey and Hong Kong decided to join forces and uncover the truth about Mount Ararat once and for all. Their aim? To find evidence that proved Noah’s Ark had touched the peak of the mountain. Their expedition was called the NAMI Expedition, and while they were confident that they would find something on the mountain that would point them in the right direction, they didn’t realize that scaling Mount Ararat would be so difficult. 

Due to the location of Mount Ararat and its close proximity to numerous borders, the mountain is a heavily guarded place. If the average person tried to scale this mountain without proper permission, they would be immediately warned and potentially even shot out by the dedicated military personnel whose job it is to protect the mountain. In fact, only those who obtain an “Ararat visa” are the ones allowed to climb this peak.

Amazingly, those within the NAMI Expedition were granted all of the visas they wanted and needed to go ahead with their plans. This meant that they had just one thing left to do: climb the mountain and start exploring. But this was easier said than done. Despite following a designated, safe path, the terrain was still extremely treacherous. They were beaten down by strong, icy winds and the ice below their feet was terrifying. 

After a few days of gruelling climbing and camping out in the snow, the NAMI Expedition finally found something that piqued their interest. At 4,000 meters above sea level, they stumbled across a cave that, to their knowledge, had never been discovered before. But it wasn’t the cave itself that was so intriguing to the explorers. It was what was inside of the cave that made them realize they’d stumbled across something extraordinary. 

As the team’s eyes adjusted to what they were seeing in front of them, they realized that they were looking at a wooden structure hidden within the cave. One of the researchers on the expedition told reporters, “The structure is partitioned into different spaces. We believe that the wooden structure we entered is the same wooden structure recorded in historical accounts and the same ancient boat indicated by locals.” Yes, Noah’s ark. 

The team could tell that the wood was old, but they wanted to prove to skeptics that a previous explorer hadn’t erected the wooden structure before them. So, they managed to take a sample of the wood to be tested and awaited the results. Amazingly, these test results estimated that the wooden structure they had found had been made with wood that was around 4,800 years old. But what was it made from?

With this in mind, the NAMI team were even more intrigued to know what the wood they had found was made from. If they couldn’t confirm that it was another type of wood on record, they could finally confirm what gopher wood was like – and what it was made from. This put extra pressure on their shoulders, as previously, there had only been theories about what gopher wood was. 

What’s so interesting about the NAMI Expedition is that the team didn’t want to release their discovery too early. Although they found the wooden structure in 2007, they ultimately decided to wait three years before releasing the evidence to the public. They wanted to be sure that what they were releasing into the world was authentic and something that hardcore sceptics couldn’t tear down. As you can imagine, the video of the cave and the structure took the internet by storm. 

Of course, the people calling out the NAMI Expedition couldn’t claim that the video the team released was false. It was clear to see that the team had indeed stumbled across a wooden structure during their explorations. But critics weren’t convinced that what they had found was authentic. Instead, they believed that the wooden structure had actually been found near the Black Sea before then being taken up the mountain in preparation for their exploration.

Enraged by the criticism, the NAMI Expedition members knew that they would have a tough job on their hands to prove that this wasn’t true. They needed to find a supporter who would back up their claims, and they did so in the form of Muhsin Bulut, the Director of Cultural Ministries in Agri Province. They wanted his expert opinion on what they had found, and the theory that wood had been taken up there prior to their ascent.

In their eyes, the NAMI Expedition has found definitive proof to back up their claims. Not only was Noah’s ark a real structure, but it also found its finally resting place near the peak of the holy Mount Ararat. But can their claims be verified? One thing they didn’t consider was how much their claims would impact the world as a whole. If they had indeed found the ark, everything we knew about the world would be put into question.

Today, everything we know about geology and biology seems to prove that the story of Noah’s Ark could have never happened. That’s because biologists are able to use new and modern tests to study the DNA codes of fossils from the past. By tracing these fossils back to different eras, they can then compare these DNA codes to see any major changes that could have been impacted by major changes in the world around them.

However, this lack of biological evidence isn’t the only thing that the Noah’s Ark story is lacking. While there have been numerous stories of great floods throughout history, there has never been any geological evidence to suggest that this ever happened. Experts believe that if the world had been impacted by such a devastating global flood, there would have been traces left behind. At the time of writing, no such trace has been found.

It’s often said that there’s no smoke without fire, and even some of the most bizarre mythological tales have been influenced by real-life events. And as we’ve mentioned, the story of Noah’s Ark isn’t the only story about a great flood. There have been countless iterations of this story told and written over the course of history, with the earlier iteration being traced back almost 5,000 years. So, is there some truth in it?

Part of this theory also suggests that the Great Flood was more of a localized event rather than a global phenomenon. In fact, scientists have found proof of a large flood that devastated ancient Mesopotamia thousands of years ago. As part of their investigations, they also discovered that a large boat – similar to Noah and his ark – was used to save both humans and animals from the flood waters. 

The people who question the legitimacy of the story of Noah’s Ark do so because they don’t have any evidence to back it up, but believers don’t understand this reasoning. In their eyes, the stories within the Bible don’t need proof, and God doesn’t need to leave any traces of his decisions behind. As an all-powerful being, they believe that he would have done everything for a reason – even if it doesn’t make sense to modern-day scientists.

The NAMI are still in the process of proving that the wooden structure they found up the holy mountain is indeed the wooden ark that housed Noah and the animals during the Great Flood. But until they release their findings, the question still remains: will anyone else make their way up Mount Ararat searching for new discoveries? In many experts’ eyes, there are still pieces of the puzzle waiting to be found. 

As it’s such a hot topic in the community and the world as a whole, it should probably come as no surprise to learn that there are indeed many explorers planning future expeditions to the top of Mount Ararat. But when they strap on their snow boots and head up the mountain is unknown. As we already know, it’s not easy for explorers to obtain Ararat Visas for such expeditions. 

When you make big claims, you have to be able to back them up. That’s why the NAMI team knew that they had to take pieces of the wooden beams they found from the cave on Mount Ararat back home with them. They wanted them to be tested and knew that it would be the only way to carbon date them. However, this didn’t go down well with the Turkish government. 

With this in mind, it’s believed that the Turkish government will put even stricter rules in place for explorers. This puts the future of Mount Ararat expeditions in jeopardy, and without the ability to explore this area further, we may have found everything we can find out about Mount Ararat and Noah’s Ark. So, what’s the general consensus? Do we believe that the story with such a rich and long history has any legs?

Whether you believe their findings are legitimate or not, the NAMI Expedition has made us all question the Great Flood and the existence of Noah’s Ark. On the one hand, we have a wooden structure that looks suspiciously like a boat that can be dated back to around the same time as the suggested flood. On the other hand, we have other research that offers no proof of such flood waters.

Some people believe there’s still one big piece of evidence out there waiting to be found. In their eyes, this evidence will undisputedly prove Noah’s ark’s existence and that the Great Flood did indeed happen. Of course, this will change the course of history and force critics to question everything they think they know about the Bible and religion as a whole. That big piece of evidence hasn’t been found just yet, though.