- 2871 - NOAH’S ARK - biblical story? Noah's Ark, set against God's decision to return Earth to its pre-creation state of watery chaos, has mystified generations. Some argue that a global flood had actually occurred at one point in ancient history
--------------------------- 2871 - NOAH’S ARK - biblical story?
- What's been missing is physical proof for the existence of the ark. Several expeditions have set out to find whether Noah's Ark was more than a myth.
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- Like many biblical stories, until the end of the 1700s the story of the ark was believed to be a true account of history. Later on, the story was accepted as symbolic, rather than historically accurate.
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- While the creation story told in the bible is recognized as not exactly being in line with how we now know the world works, even the most skeptical scientists believe that the story of Noah's Ark might have not completely been made up, and, some argue that the ark might have actually existed in one way or another.
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- According to the biblical account of the flood, after the heavy rainfall ended and the water levels were receding, Noah landed his ark on the "mountains of Ararat" and sent out a raven and a dove to find out whether the water subsided.
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- Once he was convinced, the ark's hatches were opened and the animals stowed in the giant vessel could be released into the new, empty, world.
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- Knowing the geographical location of Mount Ararat, an expedition set out in 2009 to find whether there were any archeological traces of the story. But this was not the first time researchers have looked for physical proof.
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- Mount Ararat is the highest peak in Turkey and is located in its far east, near its border with Iran and Armenia. In Armenia, the mountain is considered to be sacred and is the country's primary national symbol. Along with Noah's Ark, it is depicted on the coat of arms of Armenia
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- The 16,854 ft high peak is snowy year-round. Its impressive height also meant it was unexplored for generations, and it was as late as 1829 before the first recorded ascent to the mountain.
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- The renowned explorer Marco Polo describes in his book, “The Travels of Marco Polo“, how he braved the elements to explore the mythical mountain peak of Ararat. But since then it wasn't until the 19th century when modern explorers attempted to reach this location.
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- Dr. Friedrich Parrot climbed the mountain in 1829, explaining that due to its peak's sacredness to the Armenians, "no human being is allowed to approach it." Almost 50 years after that, an explorer named James Bryce discovered something that changed everything.
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- James Bryce, an Oxford Civil Law Professor, as well as an historian, statesman, diplomat, and explorer, climbed up Mount Ararat in 1876. His aim was to find physical proof which could back up the biblical narrative.
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- Bryce didn't reach the peak but made it as high as a tree line that offered him a view of the snowy slopes of the mountain. During his climb up Mount Ararat, Bryce was hoping to find traces of the Ark, but he didn't really believe it would happen. He was shocked, therefore, to have found an ancient wooden beam on the slopes of the snowy peak.
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- This could only be a part of Noah's Ark, but it was too large to transport off the mountain and so, Bryce returned to England with his findings. His return launched a frenzy of explorers braving the elements to get to the beam.
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- Though it was exciting that James Bryce had found the ancient beam so far up the mountain, it still wasn't conclusive evidence of the Ark's existence. Other explorers have claimed throughout the years that they found more proof, or even the Ark itself, but most of them failed to come up with actual evidence.
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- In the 1960s, a photo of a site 18 miles south of the peak was found by a man called Ron Wyatt. In the photo was a structure convincingly similar to that of a boat, and an expedition to what was known as the rediscovered Ark was on its way.
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- The story of Noah's Ark mentions that Noah rested the boat in the mountains of Ararat. However, there isn't a single peak called Ararat. Rather, there's a range of mountains. In addition to that, some biblical scholars claim that in those times, Ararat was not the name of a mountain, but rather the entire region which included numerous peaks and ranges.
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- The Durupınar site in eastern Turkey, a large aggregate structure 18 miles south of the modern Ararat, is shaped unbelievably similar to what we think the Ark looked like. Ron Wyatt's mission was to prove this was actually the Ark.
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- David Fasold, a former United States Merchant Marine Officer and salvage expert, joined Wyatt in 1985, together with the geophysicist John Baumgardner. Fasold was convinced the site was a shipwreck and the team used something called a “frequency generator” to scan the site.
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- The scans showed the formation's length to be 538 ft, which was the estimated measurements of the biblical Ark, calculated at 300 Ancient Egyptian cubits, relative to 515 ft.
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- Fasold and Wyatt scanned the area looking for any proof for the Ark and discovered something fascinating, boulders with ancient carvings. Those boulders were, according to Fasold, drogues, anchor stones used even nowadays to stabilize large ships during storms.
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- These stones were found miles away from any body of water, and due to this and their ancient origins, Fasold concluded they were used for the Ark.
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- Fasold and Wyatt made a strong case but other geologists, geophysicists, and archaeologists, all experts in their fields, were quick to refute their claims. The "frequency generator" used by Fasold was shrugged off as a "sounding rod" with additional bells and whistles, and the drogue stones were claimed to be headstones similarly to other boulders in the area.
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- So, the theory surrounding the Durupınar Site was fully dismissed. But this was not the end to the hopeful explorations of the Ararat area for Noah's Ark. Another discovery on the mountain's main peak rekindled the interest in the biblical story.
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- The idea of a destructive flood caused by a deity's decision is as old as human culture, and existed across cultures and religions. Utnapishtim in the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh and Manu in the Hindu Satapatha Brahmana both built massive boats after being warned by the gods; and there are similar stories in the Sumerian Epic of Ziusudra and in Plato's writing.
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- There are also flood myths in Chinese and North American Hopi cultures.
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- The deities' decision followed a variety of religion-specific rationales, but the method was consistent: immersing the entire earth in water. What could have caused all these different cultures to come up with the same narrative?
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- One of the oldest and most elaborate tales of an apocalyptic flood is from the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh. The 4,000-year old poem was written on stone tablets and follows king Gilgamesh in his search for eternal life.
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- The king encounters men, monsters, and gods and among them, most importantly, he meets Utnapishtim, a very old man who had already found the secret to eternal life with his wife. Wanting to learn the secret himself, Gilgamesh listens to the tale of Utnapishtim's life.
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- Utnapishtim tells the advice he got from the god Ea, when the gods decided to flood the Earth and resolve its over-population. Ea warned Utnapishtim and told him to build a large boat, and Utnapishtim followed the advice. On the vessel, he housed his family and helpers, as well as "all the animals of the field".
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- A short time after the huge boat was completed, the sky opened up and a massive storm was raging, destroying everything in its path.
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- The storm raged on as Utnapishtim, his family, and his livestock were kept safe in the ark. After a while, it stopped raining and Utnapishtim dared to open a hatch to the world. He released a raven and then a dove to scope what vegetation was above water, and eventually deposited the large vessel on the side of a mountain.
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- This tale was found written on stone tablets in the 19th century. While the physical writing was untouched for a millennia, the story traveled throughout the Babylonian empire and is well known in most places, even today.
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- The story of a devastating flood and a single ark that survives it has taken many forms throughout human history, but the core narrative remained the same. The story has been retold not only in ancient times, on stone tablets, and in religious studies, but in modern times as well, most recently in 2014, in the film Noah starring Russell Crowe and directed by Darren Aronofsky.
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- For thousands of years, tales of the great flood persisted, but some details diverge between the different versions, and sometimes even within the same story.
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- The biblical tale includes a passage saying that Noah was meant to rescue a pair of each animal. Another passage, however, says that he was instructed to take “seven pairs of every kind of clean animal” and “one pair of every kind of unclean animal,” and “seven pairs of every kind of bird".
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- These kind of discrepancies hurt the account's reliability, but could an expedition from 2007 shed new light on the ancient myth? In 2007 a joint Turkish-Hong Kong expedition which included members of Noah's Ark Ministries International , took on Mount Ararat in a mission to find the lost Ark.
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- This was no easy task, as Mount Ararat's snowy weather combined with an exposed landscape made the climb particularly difficult, and involved braving the elements. All this to excavate what the team was sure they would find: the remains of the mythical Ark.
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- But natural elements weren't the only obstacles ahead of them, as nowadays Mount Ararat sits in the heart of a closed military zone. As it is both very high up and near Turkey's borders with Iran, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, Mount Ararat is considered a crucial strategic point. This means that you need a special permit to enter the closed military zone, and for foreigners a special "Ararat Visa" needs to be granted.
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- But even once the permits are obtained, you're still required to keep to the predefined paths, even more so than in other climbs, since this is a military zone and diverging from the path could get you shot by the local forces.
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- Once their Ararat Visas were successfully obtained, the NAMI expedition started the climb to the Ararat peak, with a local guide leading the way.
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- As predicted, they had to endure the harsh weather conditions and face the raging winds and snow blizzards. But the explorers were so sure that they were going to find evidence for the Ark's existence that they were not going to let the elements stop them. And so, with a single target in mind, they braved on.
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- After days of scaling up the mountain in the horrible weather conditions and having some unpleasant encounters with the militants in the area, the NANI expedition reached an altitude of 4,000 meters, when they made an unexpected discovery, a cave.
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- The cave itself was not the main discovery. What they found inside the cave was just as astonishing. As they walked into the sheltered space they couldn't believe their luck. It really seemed like they found what they had hoped for.
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- The explorers were utterly shocked by their discovery. As one of the researchers, Man-Fai Yuen, recalled: “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.”
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- In order to try and date the wood and put the historical picture together, the team collected samples to send back to the lab. To properly date the discovery made in the cave on Mount Ararat, and determine whether it was really part of the mythological Ark, the NAMI researchers had to use a special carbon dating method on their samples. They estimated the age of the wood to be about 4,800 years old.
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- The next step was to determine the origins of the material. In the Bible it was mentioned the Ark was built from "gopher wood," with no real clue as to what "gopher" means. Could the samples from Ararat resolve this mystery as well?
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- The term "gopher wood" was used in the Hebrew Bible only once, to describe the Ark's material. Since it has not been used in any other context, it has been impossible to confirm what it really means. One theory claims it's reeds, another suggests that it's wood processed with tar, and a third states that it's simply a type of tree.
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- While this was not its primary purpose, if the NAMI expedition was successful, their discovery would also solve this centuries-old mystery It took almost three years since the expedition's return, and it wasn't until 2010 when the explorers released the footage from the Mount Ararat excursion.
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- It wasn't long after the NAMI expedition published their videos from the Ararat excursion when critics claimed the videos and other findings were nothing short of an elaborate bluff. Claims were made that the ancient wooden beams were actually sourced in the Black Sea and brought over to Mount Ararat by the expedition's guide.
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- The structures were claimed to be built right before the researchers arrived at the cave and recorded their footage. This cast a dark shadow over the entire expedition. Could it all be a hoax?
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- The NAMI researchers claim on their website that they consulted with the Director of Cultural Ministries in Agri Province, Muhsin Bulut, regarding the accusations that the wooden structure was brought from somewhere else.
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- According to their website, Bulut responded that it would be impossible to secretly bring "such an amount of timber to the strictly monitored area and planting a large wood structure at an altitude of 4,000 meters."
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- Even if the NAMI's findings are real, their researchers need to provide much more exhaustive evidence to convince the scientific community. But will this be the end to this epic quest? Probably not. Even if the claims are verified they would most likely bring up dozens other questions needing an answer.
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- If the myth of the flood is based on real events where only a boatful of animals were rescued, the entire study of biology and geology will need to be reexamined. We're not betting on the likeliness of this happening, however.
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- The root of the problem with the NAMI findings, when it comes to biological research, lies in the myth about a boat releasing all surviving animals in one location, at a time in history when human culture had already developed enough to use tools and build a giant vessel.
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- Since biologists rely on DNA codes to track changes and compare them to fossils, the discovery of a global wipeout followed by a reemergence of wildlife in a single location will require a reconfiguration of the entire approach to biology.
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- Even if scientists manage to explain the biological rationale that would follow something like the story of the Ark, the geological evidence, or lack thereof, will still need to be dealt with.
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- An apocalyptic flood in the scale accounted in the original tale would have left significant traces, even millennia later. And there would most certainly be some scientific evidence when it came to submersions and receding water lines.
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- Still, there will always be those who will claim the existing evidence is sufficient enough and somehow manage to reconcile the myth of the ark with modern science.
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- While no archeological evidence has been found to corroborate the myth of the Ark, plenty of evidence shows that the tale itself was widely spread in a variety of versions, and accepted in many different cultures. Some of these versions are estimated to date back 5,000 years ago.
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- The fact that such a hyperbolical tale became so widely accepted around the world is regarded by some as proof on its own that some truth is to be found in the story. Those people assume that some evidence or testimonies must have been presented at that time.
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- Accepting that an apocalyptic flood on a global scale did not actually occur doesn't negate the option that local devastating floods had occurred; and, indeed, there are traces of such cases in ancient Mesopotamia.
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- Evidence was found to show not only that a catastrophic flood took place in ancient times, but that an ark-like boat was constructed and used to spare people and animals from the rapid rising water.
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- The question remains whether a flood of this sort could have made it to Mount Ararat, and whether it's possible that traces of this vessel are still up on the mountain side.
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- Those who doubt the accuracy of the mythological flood rely on scientific facts. But for others, the truth of the story does not need to be supported by science.
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- The findings brought forth by the NAMI expedition remain controversial without more substantial evidence to support them. Nevertheless, those searching for the lost Ark have not given up on finding proof of its existence. In fact, many more people believe the Ark exists on Mount Ararat just waiting for someone to find it.
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- What about future expeditions? Will they be able to build on NAMI's findings or will they begin anew? Expeditions to the peak of Mount Ararat continue to be planned out by all sorts of groups: from believers, through scientists and archeologists, and even adventurers.
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- While they intended to expand human knowledge and resolve a generations-old mystery, the NAMI expedition and its methods were undesirable to the Turkish authorities, which caused the already rarely granted Ararat Visa became even more difficult to obtain. Nowadays, even fewer expeditions and researchers are able to get a permit to scale up the mountain.
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- As far as the Turkish authorities are concerned, once NAMI took samples from the wooden beams at the site of the cave in Mount Ararat to the lab in Hong Kong to get them carbon dated, this was a major offence. As in most countries, seizing archeological findings out of Turkey without permission is considered to be an offence.
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- The NAMI researchers will not suffer any legal consequences, but future applications for the Ararat Visa would be much tougher to receive due to their recklessness.
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- For generations, the story of the epic flood and the boat built to save a chosen few, fascinated people around the globe. Cultures such as the ancient Sumerians, the Hebrews, and Christians of ancient and modern times, retold versions of this story and found it inspired faith and hope in those who heard it.
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- Even skeptics were interested enough in this tale to analyze which parts of it are likely and which are scientifically improbable. But the question still remains whether this story is a complete myth or not.
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- It remains unclear if NAMI's findings will be accepted as true or formally refuted. Either case, the story of the Ark and the possibility of its existence are undeniably fascinating. The tale has been told time and time again for thousands of years, with each culture shaping it differently, in accordance with their belief system.
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- If this myth will somehow end up being corroborated, it will reinforce the importance of cultural narratives passed through the generations.
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- People will surely keep searching for the ancient vessel, hoping to find evidence that the myth is based, in fact, on a true story. One day, perhaps, one such team will surprise us all and manage to find meaningful proof.
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- Until then, we can still admire its cultural impact. And you must admit it is a fascinating story even for children’s first books.
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- October 22, 2020 2871
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