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A group of Chinese and Turkish evangelical explorers say wooden remains they have discovered on Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey are the remains of Noah's Ark.
The group claims that carbon dating proves the relics are 4,800 years old, meaning they date to around the same time the ark was said to be afloat. Mt. Ararat has long been suspected as the final resting place of the craft by evangelicals and literalists hoping to validate biblical stories.
Yeung Wing-Cheung, from the Noah's Ark Ministries International research team that made the discovery, said: "It's not 100 percent that it is Noah's Ark, but we think it is 99.9 percent that this is it."
There have been several reported discoveries of the remains of Noah's Ark over the years, most notably a find by archaeologist Ron Wyatt in 1987. At the time, the Turkish government officially declared a national park around his find, a boat-shaped object stretched across the mountains of Ararat.
Nevertheless, the evangelical ministry remains convinced that the current find is in fact more likely to be the actual artifact, calling upon Dutch Ark researcher Gerrit Aalten to verify its legitimacy.
“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,” Aalten said at a press conference announcing the find. Citing the many details that match historical accounts of the Ark, he believes it to be a legitimate archaeological discovery.
“There’s a tremendous amount of solid evidence that the structure found on Mount Ararat in Eastern Turkey is the legendary Ark of Noah,” said Aalten.
Representatives of Noah's Ark Ministries said the structure contained several compartments, some with wooden beams, that they believe were used to house animals.The group of evangelical archaeologists ruled out an established human settlement on the grounds none have ever been found above 11,000 feet in the vicinity, Yeung said.
During the press conference, team member Panda Lee described visiting the site. “In October 2008, I climbed the mountain with the Turkish team. At an elevation of more than 4,000 meters, 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 meters to another site. I could see broken wood fragments embedded in a glacier, and some 20 meters long. I surveyed the landscape and found that the wooden structure was permanently covered by ice and volcanic rocks."




http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/04/2...ey-arafat/

I was thinking a guy named Ron Wyatt,thought that he had found the ARK a few years back..:dontknow:

:) :peace:

Hi all,
I read several accounts of this on the net.

There are number of ambiguities in the film and 'details'.

A lack of outside pictures and the inside pictures do not focus on the most important details.

The find appears to be below the glacier elevation..re preservation of wood.

Of course there will be snow on the mountain further down at this time of year.

It is made of the wrong kind of wood.

Any building once in a glacier would be crushed...rooms are still in existence.

The planks look as if they were cut in a 'sawmill' I cannot see any adze marks?

It could be some kind of building even though this was rubbished.

It is not unknown that people live up mountains, particularly monastic orders..

It is probably a case of enthusiasm winning over rational assessment.

Independent verification would help.

I shall wait and see.

False claims hit the Bibles credibility in the eyes of non believers.

Here’s a statement from today’s paper:

Mike Pitt, a British archaeologist, said the evangelical explorers had yet to produce compelling evidence.

“If there had been a flood capable of lifting a huge ship 4km up the side of a mountain 4,800 years ago, I think there would be substantial geological evidence for this flood around the world — and there isn't,” he said.

There was an explanation of a psalm attributed to Moses, I think, that the mountains stretched higher and the sea beds sunk lower to accommodate the flood waters.

If this reading of scripture is correct, one would imagine that there would be striking geological evidence left to support it.

Hi Brendan,
Your dead right about the fact there should be a lot of evidence.

The date for the flood, if we follow similar chronologies to the WTS, is very recent. There should be a lot of evidence of recent upheaval if a global all mountain covering deluge occurred c.4,400 Before present (I incorrectly put BCE last night.)

However, there is substantial evidence in the Mesopotamian valley from the 'Gulf, inland, of significant mud deposition from a very large flood.
It I remember correctly, this deposition gets less and less and eventually tails out further up the Mesopotamian plain/valley. Thus indicating this very significant flood, probably a one in many thousand year event, was essentially regional.
warm regards
Derek

I had not heard of this recent find.

I have done extensive research into Ron Wyatts discovery and find it pretty convincing.

The more I investigate the evidence available about the flood, the more I think that it was a phenomenal event, but a fairly local one. Though not earth wide, I do believe it wiped out the entire inhabited world at that time. I believe the bible is correct in stating that only the 8 souls survived. So in that sense it could be said to have been global though not encompasing the literal globe of the earth.

Here is a link to photos and video

http://creation.com/is-it-noahs-ark


Here is some text for those without high speed.

Is it Noah’s Ark?
Wooden structure high on Ararat announced to the world
[Updates at bottom of page: Latest 06 May 2010]

On Sunday 25 April, a press conference was held in Hong Kong at 11 am local time. A local Christian organization, The Media Evangelism Ltd, announced that they had accessed and filmed an extremely interesting item 4,200 metres (14,000 ft) up on Ararat in an extremely dangerous and hard-to-access area. TMEL apparently has an evangelistic display in the large concrete full-size Ark replica on the way to the airport.

Buried in ice and rock, (well above the treeline) they were able to tunnel down and enter and film about seven accessible rooms (there were more) constructed out of what clearly appeared to be wood, including small doorways, a shelf, beams with pegs, and more.

As more information becomes available over the next few days, we should be able to flesh out some of these details, including more on the history of the find.

We have previously wondered in print how such a structure would survive the many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes evidenced by the mountain’s geology, and whether such an obvious source of structural timber and fuel would survive long after the Flood.

It is still early days and all believers need to be careful not to jump the gun, i.e. go beyond the evidence and announce it as the Ark for sure. There will obviously be a lot more work to be done to establish whether this apparently manmade structure is indeed the remains of Noah’s Ark, or a subsequent construction, perhaps to commemorate the Ark landing. The discoverers have indicated their desire to work closely with the major creation organizations to address the obvious questions that still need to be answered.

Even if this turns out not to be the Ark itself, this find (if genuine) and the ongoing investigations and interest will focus attention on the reality of the Flood in world history.

The following are articles responding to various other previous claims about the remains of the Ark. (Note: they do not refer to this latest claim and are not intended to reflect on it.)


1.TMEL have a subsidiary, called Noah’s Ark Ministries International Ltd, which has a website which details some of the claims—http://www.noahsarksearch.net. [Note: provision of a link does not indicate that the claims are (or are not) being endorsed or verified at this point.]
2.Information received indicates that TMEL held a similarly enthusiastic press conference some two years ago about a claimed Ark find elsewhere on the mountain that apparently turned out to be of no significance.
3.We have had a chance to view many still pictures (but not yet been given formal permission to post) and there is little doubt that these are wooden, manmade structures.
4.The head of an Ark-searching team looking elsewhere on Ararat sent an email to a creationist chatroom site which states that TMEL/NAMIL have in his opinion likely been duped by a clever fraud, involving planted wood. He claims to have accompanied the Chinese team on one of their several expeditions and implies that TMEL was led to its discovery site by a local not exactly known for his honesty. He indicates his view that some of the still photos were from a different site, suggesting that TMEL was misled into accepting these as of the same structure. He then states that he expects positive results from his own team’s investigation of an alternative site.
All of this seems to reinforce the need for caution—in both directions, as one would expect controversy and denial surrounding a genuine find too. We plan to keep abreast of significant developments and create further addenda as information becomes available.


ADDENDUM 2: Posted 6 May 2010

1.A number of CMI staff have been involved in ongoing discussions over the phone with reliable folk in Hong Kong we have known for years. These are people who have close contact with the team announcing the discovery and vouch for their integrity.
2.Indications at present are that the theory that ‘the Chinese team were victims of a hoax’ is getting harder to sustain. In particular, we have had direct assurance that the following pictures posted here below are ones taken directly by the team at various times at the site (click images to enlarge). Also, the discoverers have specifically responded on their website to the email by Dr Randall Price.



3.While unable to comment with certainty yet about items such as the straw and the cobwebs in some photos, in light of some of the comments circulating, it should be noted that spiders (and their insect prey) exist at even higher altitudes. There are many anecdotal accounts of people going up to something like this over the centuries, in which case straw may be useful for overnight bunking, etc.
4.Further investigations will likely require, initially, face-to-face inquiries with eyewitnesses, and hands-on inspection of artefacts/samples in Hong Kong. With the gracious consent of the discovery team, CMI has expressed that we are more than willing to cooperate with all relevant players, which will also assist us in being able to offer reliable commentary to our constituency via this page as it is updated.
5.If such investigations continue to progressively rule out the ‘planted hoax’ theory, then it would appear that a substantial wooden construction exists under the ice at this very high altitude on Greater Mt. Ararat, a construction whose nature is yet to be determined.
6.Greater Mt. Ararat is a volcano, with much evidence of ancient (hence postFlood) eruptions. So this could well be a memorial erected to the landing (which could have been elsewhere in the region, given that the Bible says “the mountains of Ararat/Urartu” centuries later). If so, it would still be a major archaeological discovery of great interest to creationists in particular.
In summary, at this time we believe, based on those recent discussions, that the evidence as it currently presents itself to us warrants more than just a “wait and see” approach, but a willingness to be involved with the investigation, ensuring that all competing theories are also fairly dealt with. We’ll keep you posted with such updates as soon as significant news is available.

BB:happyheart::friends::happyheart: