Via our friends at Orbusmax.com, comes a story that is still light on details but high on intrigue.

Hong Kong correspondents of Agence France Presse reported Tuesday that a Chinese-Turkish expedition to Turkey’s Mount Ararat claims to have found the legendary ark that biblical stories claim carried a man, his family, and two of every animal to safety when God sent a flood to destroy mankind because it had become corrupted by sin and depravity.

The group of evangelical explorers claim the remains of what they believe is Noah’s ark are located above the 12,000-foot mark on the Turkish mountain, and they have released a number of photographs depicting the interior of a wooden structure. If the structure does exist at that high altitude and can be authenticated as the result of ancient construction it almost certainly rules out the possibility that it is the remains of a primitive human settlement. From the AFP article:

The team said it had recovered wooden specimens from a structure on Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey that carbon dating proved was 4800 years old, around the same time the ark is said to have been afloat.

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The structure had several compartments, some with wooden beams, which were believed to house animals, he said.

The team has cited a need to maintain secrecy about the site as their reason for not releasing additional footage from their trek, including exterior photos from the area that could be used to pinpoint the location of the find. The Chinese-Turkish group plans asked the government in Ankara – Mount Ararat sits within the border of modern-day Turkey – to request World Heritage Site status from the United Nations so that the area can be protected during a future dig.

Many expeditions over the centuries have been launched to locate the fabled landbound vessel. I can still remember, as a child, listening to the stoic narration of Leonard Nimoy on an episode of the sensationalistic 1970s In Search Of television show as he chronicled the search for Noah’s ark. Nimoy’s script was chockfull of omissions and half-truths and did not expose a number of hoaxes for what they were, but some of the tales from visitors to Mount Ararat have resisted debunking.

Therefore, although the team of evangelical archaeologists state with “99.9 percent” certainty that they have found the fabled ark of Noah, doubting their claims is wise until they can produce additional details and have their find scientifically examined and assessed. Because the exploration team included a documentary filmmaker, demands for visual evidence of the group’s claims should be easily fulfilled. If not, or if a profit motive begins to take shape, we can throw this one in the bin with Geraldo’s opening of Al Capone’s “vault” and Fox Television’s alien autopsy video.

Although many Americans may consider any discussion of an ark on Mount Ararat to be a Christian fantasy, the story of a massive flood is not exclusive to Judeo-Christianity. The telling of stories in which a massive deluge destroys humanity save for a small chosen group is, aside from myths about the creation of the planet and the universe, the most universal narrative in all of human history. A find of this magnitude would have relevance in nearly every culture and civilization on the planet and to all major religions.

While many may mock the quest for this artifact by equating it to searching for Santa Claus’ workshop at the North Pole, for centuries historians and scholars doubted that the places described by the Greek poet Homer in Iliad and Odyssey were real. When the legendary city of Troy was found (also in Turkey (where do these Turks get off hogging the fun)) and subsequent evidence that other places in Homer’s epics were actual places, Homer’s epics were no longer only read students of literature, but by historians looking for clues.

For now, the accusations of a small team of explorers who have chosen not to release even a single still photograph should be viewed with a great deal of skepticism.

Lastly, a note to Steven Spielberg, if he’s reading. If this spurs interest in making Indiana Jones and the Ark of Salvation, please, this time, no aliens.

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Related Articles:

Daily Mail | ‘Noah’s Ark’ remains discovered on a Turkish mountain, evangelical archaelogists claim

Big Hollywood | Evangelists claim ‘Noah’s Ark’ discovery on Turkish mountain

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