While searching for the remains of Noah’s Ark on Mount Ararat in Eastern Turkey, a Chinese-Turkish exploration team successfully excavated and ventured inside a large wooden structure at an elevation of more than 4,000m above sea level. Wood specimens were dated as 4,800 years old. Officials of Turkish government and Cultural Ministries highly regarded the finds and jointly announced the discovery with the exploration team in Hong Kong. They planned to submit an application for the wooden structure to be included on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. A mutual agreement for further co-operation was signed and the Hong Kong team members were recognized as Honorable Citizens of Agri Province, Turkey. In the press conference on April 25, Consul General of Turkey, Mr. Mehmet Raif Karaca, was invited to come and support the great achievements of the exploration team in the aspect of the search for Noah’s Ark.
Background information
Historical accounts dating back more than 2,000 years maintain that ‘Noah’s Ark came to rest in the mountains of Ararat after the Great Flood’. The same records can be found in the Bible and the Koran. In the local region, a saying passed down through the generations goes: ‘There is an ancient boat on the mountain’.
The earliest record of Ark search by a Western scientist was German naturalist Dr. Friedrich Parrot, who climbed the Mount Ararat in 1829. Although he failed to find substantial evidence for the proof, he was the forerunner in the field – in the following 200 years, many scientists and explorers have been dedicated to search an ancient boat that matches the historical records. However, the greatest result of Western research in two centuries was the retrieval of wood fragments in glacier at an elevation of above 4,000m on Mount Ararat. From an objective scientific point of view, the discovery of wood on Mount Ararat is encouraging because scientists maintain that high mountain altitudes are depleted of trees and no human settlement has ever been found above an elevation of 3,000 metres. Wood fragments discovered in the past may have come from the Ark.
The discovery of the wood structure
Noah’s Ark Ministries International achieves a breakthrough in the search. The team first located a site on an elevation of above 4,000m, excavated the glacier, found and ventured inside the wood structure. Man-fai YUEN, a representative of NAMI said in the press conference, “The search team and I personally entered a wooden structure high on the mountain. The structure is partitioned into different spaces. We believe that the wooden structure we entered is the same structure recorded in historical accounts and the same ancient boat indicated by the locals.” Team members entered the wooden structure and proceeded to conduct field studies, take measurements and collect samples, with the entire process filmed. This is the first team in history ever to visually document the interior of the wood structure on the mountain.
Ahmet Ertugrul, the search team leader, was the first to get information on the location and then started the search. He explained, “I got to know the secret location in June 2008. The source told me that this is Noah’s Ark. I took a team there for the search around the region and found a wooden structure. I took some photographs of the interior structure. Since I have worked closely with NAMI for some years, I informed them of the discovery.”
The search extended for nearly two years. A milestone was marked by one of the team members, Panda Lee, who went for a pioneer climb to witness the existence of a wood structure high above an altitude of 4,000m. He also surveyed the landscape, preparing for further search. Panda Lee said, “In October 2008, I climbed the mountain with the Turkish team. At an elevation of more than 4,000 metres, I saw a structure built with plank-like timber. Each plank was about 8 inches wide. I could see tenons, proof of ancient construction predating the use of metal nails. We walked about 100 metres to another site. I could see broken wood fragments embedded in a glacier, and some 20 metres long. I surveyed the landscape and found that the wooden structure was permanently covered by ice and volcanic rocks. Prior to my expedition, the Turkish team had excavated the site to expose the structure.”
Following Panda’s confirmation, although search activities were interrupted by unmerciful weather and tense situation, the quest was relentlessly conducted for a whole year. Finally, in October 2009, a film crew accompanied the search team to document the expedition. Six Hong Kong team members entered the wooden structure, with Fiona Leung the sole female member. She says, “The expedition was difficult. We stayed a few days in base camp at 2,800 metres above sea level in order to acclimatise. All of us suffered various symptoms of mountain sickness. The weather on Mount Ararat was unpredictable. Fine sunny weather would be overwhelmed by heavy fog in an instant. The difference in day and night temperatures was as large as 30 degrees Celsius. At night, temperatures dropped below minus 20 degrees C and one night it even snowed. The last section of the route leading to the site was very rugged. We negotiated steep terrain of 60 degrees and could see rock basalts rolling towards us: the sunshine caused melting snow to loosen, which rolled down. Some of the rock basalts were as large as a head and could seriously have injured anyone hit”
Seven spaces revealed
The wood structure discovered by the team is broken, so members entered the structure through various openings. Up to now, the team has discovered seven spaces. One of the team members, Wing-cheung YEUNG explains during the press conference:“
- One of the spaces discovered is frozen by ice. Under ice is wood with wood beam above. There is tenon construction on the wall and it is obvious artificial structure.
- The space witnessed by Panda Lee is L-shaped. This is the first discovered space. It’s L-shaped and its features match well with some spaces discovered later, like tenon construction. We concluded that it was originally a box-shaped room and heavily decomposed.
- This space stands at more than 5 metres high. Team members had to get through a broken opening and abseil down to get inside. All walls are wood and the space is not box-shaped. Strictly speaking, the walls are not vertical but rather curved and inclined. The small door on one side, of dimensions one meter high and half meter width, presumably leads to another space but our team did not risk going further due to the lack of oxygen.
- This room is box-shaped, having a dimension of height, width and length of more than two metres. There is a wooden beam with wooden nails on one side of the wall. It is believed that a rope was hooked on these nails to keep animals in place. On another side of the wall, there are racks.
- A very small tunnel-like space connects two spaces.
- A few wooden staircases were found inside the structure, which seemingly carved by tree logs. Our team climbed one and found a door in the ceiling and concluded the wood structure has more than one floor. We tried to open it but failed. Since we did not want to destroy the structure, we will try again with appropriate equipment in the future.
- The team has not entered this space. They viewed and took shots from a small opening above. The height and width are estimated to be 5 metres and 12 metres respectively. ”
Attending experts and government officials agreed that the discovery is of great significance. In light of historical records, they believe that the most probable explanation is Noah’s Ark and subsequent scientific studies should be undertaken. Mr. Gerrit Aalten, renowned Dutch Ark researcher said, “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.” With more than 30 years experience in collecting information, Mr. Aalten believes that detailed eyewitness accounts made the Ark puzzle complete because they all together mentioned the same significant details that exactly match this astonishing find on the mountain. He continued, “Just a few of the many details that are matching this find: …the height it’s found on, which is above “the 4000 meters level”; another detail is, the way the Ark is situated on the mountain which is: “slightly tilted”; …that it has a ” reddish/brown wood appearance”, …the end of the Ark “is decayed and broken and has a hole” through which one can enter; …it is most partly “embedded in the ice and rock debris”;…and that the Ark is “very solid and of high quality”; …and ”very dark, long and rectangular”. In conclusion, Mr. Aalten said , “there’s a tremendous amount of solid evidence that the structure found on Mount Ararat in Eastern Turkey, is the legendary Ark of Noah.”
An archaeologist, Professor Oktay Belli said, “The search team has made the greatest discovery in history. This finding is very important and the greatest up to now. On Mount Ararat, human settlement has never reached up to 3,500 m. Mount Ararat is a holy place and has rich historical accounts about Noah’s Ark on the mountain. Many people have searched the mountain for the holy Ark. This time’s discovery is the first serious search that the team found a wood structure under ice.”
Dr. Ahmet Özbek, a Turkish geologist explained how the condition has helped preserve the structure for thousands years without decay or petrifying. He said that “In present days, the permanent snow line on Mt. Ararat is 3,900 meters. The wood structure was found higher than 4,000 meters.” The low temperature and environmental condition of glacier deposits and volcanic material helped the preservation. He also explained that the proportion by weight of wood material was able to carry loads up to 5 times its weight. So this structure can bear heavy weight without breaking into pieces.
Turkish government officials, Mr. Murat Güven, Lieutenant Governor of Agri Province, Mr. Muhsin Bulut, Cultural Ministries Director of Agri Province and Mr. Ibrahim Sahin, District Secretary of Dogubayazit City appreciated the effort put forward by the search team and thanked them for the discovery of Noah’s Ark. It would be shocking news to the world. Mr. Muhsin Bulut, Cultural Ministries Director of Agri Province said, “For more than 2,000 years, historical and eyewitnesses accounts tell us that there is an ancient boat on Mt. Ararat which survived a great flood and landed on the mountain. People believed that it is Noah’s Ark. I believe the team has finally located this ancient boat and I believe it is Noah’s Ark.” The Turkish government officials will help further scientific search of NAMI in the future. Attendees will invite the participation of scientists and will be committed to scientific search to reveal the truth of Noah’s Ark. They read and signed a co-operation agreement:
“We, the undersigned, agree to collaborate on scientific search and study related to Noah’s Ark on Mt. Ararat.
The results are of significance to the whole world in that humankind should cherish its common beliefs and origins.
We believe that the discovery of Noah’s Ark will resolve centuries of national ideological conflict.
We are dedicated to working towards a better, peaceful world.”
Hong Kong people are recognized as Honorable Citizens for the first time
In appreciation of the Hong Kong search team’s dedication and contribution to the Ark search on Mount Ararat in Agri Province and its subsequent discovery, Mr. Murat Güven, Lieutenant Governor of Agri Province announced four of the team members as Honourable Citizens. They are the first foreigners to be recognized this status.
