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Noah's Ark Found? Turkey Expedition Planned for Summer

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  • Noah's Ark Found? Turkey Expedition Planned for Summer

    Noah's Ark Found? Turkey Expedition Planned for Summer

    Hillary Mayell
    for National Geographic News
    April 27, 2004


    Photo caption: This satellite image of Mount Ararat in Turkey shows what
    looks like a large object emerging from melting snow. An expedition is
    planned to visit the site to see if it is Noah's Ark.

    Image Courtesy Shamrock/DigitalGlobe


    Satellite pictures taken last summer of Mount Ararat in Turkey may
    reveal the final resting place of Noah's ark, according to Daniel
    McGivern, the businessman and Christian activist behind a planned summer
    2004 expedition to investigate the site.
    "We're telling people we're 98 percent sure," said McGivern, a member of
    the Hawaii Christian Coalition. "In one image we saw the beams, saw the
    wood. I'm convinced that the excavation of the object and the results of
    tests run on any collected samples will prove that it is Noah's ark. "

    McGivern wrote a list in his Bible more than 20 years ago of ten great
    projects. Finding Noah's ark was at the top of his list.

    McGivern began his quest in earnest in 1995, when the publication of a
    book on the topic moved him to arrange for satellite images to be taken
    of Mount Ararat.

    Attempts to take satellite images in previous years had been foiled by
    clouds, unavailability of imaging equipment, and lack of image
    resolution. But the attempts had helped pinpoint the location. In the
    summer of 2003, everything came together.

    "Last year was the hottest summer in Europe since 1500; more than 21,000
    people died of the heat wave," McGivern said. "The summer melt was far
    more extensive than it has been in years."

    DigitalGlobe, a commercial satellite-imagery company, confirmed that
    they took the images that McGivern is using.

    An international team of archaeologists, forensic scientists,
    geologists, glaciologists, and others is being recruited to investigate
    the site sometime between July 15 and August 15.

    Ahmet Arslan, a professor in Turkey who has climbed the mountain 50
    times in 40 years, will lead the expedition. Arslan reported an
    eyewitness sighting of the ark and took a photograph in 1989 from about
    220 yards (200 meters) away. However, he couldn't get any closer, and
    the picture is not definitive.

    "We hope to assemble what we're calling the Dream Team," Arslan said.
    "The slopes are very, very harsh and dangerous on the northern face-it
    is extremely challenging, mentally and physically."

    Noah's Ark

    The story of Noah's ark is told in the Book of Genesis. It says God saw
    how corrupt the Earth had become and decided to "bring floodwaters on
    the Earth to destroy all life under the heavens." God is said to have
    told Noah, an honorable man, to build an ark 450 feet (137 meters) long,
    75 feet (23 meters) wide, and 45 feet (14 meters) high, and fill it with
    two of every species on the Earth. It reportedly rained for 40 days and
    40 nights. After about seven months, the waters receded, and the ark
    came to rest, according to the Bible.

    Three major world religions-Christianity, Judaism, and Islam-believe in
    Noah and his ark. Reports of ark sightings have been numerous. Witnesses
    often describe an old wooden structure sticking out of the snow and ice
    near the summit of Mount Ararat.

    Despite the numerous sightings and rumors-of pictures taken by the CIA
    and locked in vaults, of lost photographs taken by a Russian expedition
    at the behest of Tsar Nicholas Alexander in 1918-no scientific evidence
    of the ark has emerged.

    "On the one hand, I'm hopeful. On the other hand, I'm very skeptical" of
    the validity of the satellite images, said Rex Geissler, president of
    ArcImaging (Archaeological Imaging Research Consortium). "There is no
    publicly available picture that readily shows a man-made object that has
    any clarity whatsoever . Some of the photos are outright
    misrepresentations, non-scientific, and do not prove anything.

    "We think that with the hundreds of explorers who have visited the
    region, if the ark was jutting out of the ice, it would be obvious."

    ArcImaging was the first organization to receive permission from the
    Turkish government to survey the mountain since 1981. The archaeological
    research organization conducted a preliminary investigation of the
    icecap using ground-penetrating radar in 2001.

    The Search Continues

    The Bible states that Noah landed in the region of the ancient kingdom
    Urartu. Mount Ararat (its name probably a corrupted version of Urartu)
    has been the focus of those seeking the ark because it-at 17,000 feet
    (5,165 meters)-is the highest point in the area.

    A volcanic mountain, Ararat is covered by an icecap from 14,000 feet
    (4,300 meters) to 17,000 feet (5,200 meters). The icecap is about 17
    square miles (44 square kilometers) in size and is as deep as 300 feet
    (90 meters).

    Known to locals as Agri Dagi-Turkish for "mountain of pain"- Ararat is
    not easy to access. Located in eastern Turkey-close to the borders of
    Armenia and Iran, and only 150 miles (240 kilometers) from Iraq-the
    region is politically volatile and often dangerous. Much of the region
    is part of a military zone, and getting permission to explore it is
    extremely difficult.

    The ArcImaging team hopes to visit the region to continue their mapping
    of the icecap this summer.

    McGivern is optimistic his group will also be on the face of the
    mountain this summer. He and Arslan met last week with the Turkish
    ambassador to the U.S. Arslan, who at one time worked in the Turkish
    prime minister's office, plans to meet with the prime minister next
    week.

    "The ark is broken into a minimum of three pieces, up to six, from a
    huge earthquake that occurred in 1840. But it's been miraculously
    preserved. The satellite imagery shows vertical beams, and one
    horizontal beam," McGivern said.

    © 2004 National Geographic Society. All rights reserved.
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