Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat. Satellite photos, excavations, where it is located, coordinates, evidence, remains. Video

People began to believe more and more in the real existence of Noah's Ark from the biblical scriptures after the expedition of the American anesthesiologist Ron Wyatt, who, having seen photographs of a possible ship on Mount Ararat in an article in Life Store magazine in 1957, made such a trip in 1960 .

The author of the photographs was Turkish pilot Ilham Durupinar. The shape of the ship with clear, regular outlines of the stern and bow stood out on them. The American became so interested in this fact that he went to these places in search of the object and confirmation of the story in the Bible.

The story of Noah's Ark in the Bible

According to biblical scripture, God gave Noah the command to build a huge ship to save not only him and his family, but also all the animals inhabiting the planet. To do this, a pair had to be selected from each species.

The design of the vessel assumed the following parameters:

• length 300 cubits or 133.5 m;
• width 50 cubits or 22.25 m;
• height 30 cubits or 13.35 m.

A door was to be made on the side of the ark, and there were 3 floors inside. The material for the vessel should have been gopher wood. The entire structure needed to be tarred inside and out. The construction of the ship was completed by Noah in 4352 BC. By this time he was already 600 years old. The work continued for 100 years.

At the command of God, Noah boarded the ship with his wife, animals and necessary products and it was closed. Then rain fell on the ground, which continued for 40 days.

The water rose so much that it flooded the tops of the highest mountains, destroying all life on earth. Only then did it begin to subside and leave. God commanded everyone to leave the ark, saying that there would be no more death and that all living things could peacefully reproduce.

Where are the Ararat Mountains?

Today this is the Anatolian coast, located in the territory of modern Turkey near the borders with Armenia. The mountains include two peaks - Big and Small, located about 20 km from each other. Both of them are covered with eternal ice caps and are hidden from view by clouds most of the time. Since the ark moored to the first piece of land that appeared from the water, it is logical to assume that this was the top of the Big Mountain, whose height is 5165 m. Not such an impressive figure to take its rightful place among the highest peaks on the planet, but undoubtedly one of the most famous mountains thanks to the constant search for the legendary ark, which continues to this day. On clear, cloudless evenings against the backdrop of a pinkish sky, many supposedly see the outlines of a ship of gigantic size, but all this is a deception of the eye and imagination, since even if its remains exist, they are reliably hidden from view.

Mentions in ancient and medieval sources of different peoples of the world

Noah's Ark is mentioned in medieval sources:

• In the chronicles of the Jewish commander Josephus - 1st century BC. e.
• Legendary traveler Marco Polo - XIII century. It is mentioned in the Book on the Diversity of the World.
• In The Tale of Bygone Years the year is 1114.

In the mythology of the Middle Eastern peoples:

• Noah is mentioned in the Koran. Here he appears as a prophet who tried to guide people on the right path. However, they called him a liar and did not believe him. Among the unbelievers was his son, who eventually died during the flood. The Koran also mentions that the ark was made from boards fastened with nails or rivets.

• In the Babylonian library, the Englishman Henry Leyerd discovered tablets dating back to 275 BC. In the 19th century they were transported to the British Museum. After deciphering them, it was discovered that the text written on them resembles the story of Noah. Here it is called by the name Xi, and the ark itself is called Xisuthros.
• In the chronicle History of Phenicia , written in the 6th century BC. e. Egyptian Jerome.
• 150 BC e. there is a mention of the ark in Mnasei .
• Saint Theophilus of Antioch in 185 AD. e. wrote to Autolycus about the remains of the ark, which are located on Mount Ararat.
• Chronicles of a flood that occurred more than 5,000 - 6,000 years ago have been discovered in Iraq. They were found in the 19th century. To escape from the water elements, a large vessel was also built.
• Already in 2010, tablets describing the tales of Atrahasis were discovered in the British Museum by Irwin Finkel. Their date corresponds to 1700 BC. e. The hero builds a round ship from reeds and saves his life from the flood.

Search for Noah's Ark

Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat, the photo of which is presented in the form of a huge ship, refers to mysterious events. Humanity has a constant desire to reveal it. Search attempts began in the 4th century BC. They were subsequently repeated in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat. Photo of the proposed object.

According to the Bible, there is an opinion that the ark landed at Ararat. However, here we can mean not a mountain, but a place in Assyria, which is called Urartu. Nevertheless, starting from the 4th century, the search for the ark has been carried out precisely on Mount Ararat. According to legend, the first attempts were made by Hakob Mtsbnetsi, who was the father of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Legend has it that he made several attempts to climb, but regularly fell asleep along the way. After waking up, I again found myself at the foot of the mountain. This happened until an angel flew up to him and suggested that he give up his attempts. In return, he promised to deliver him a piece of the ark. The Holy Father agreed and received the relic, which is now kept in the Etchmiadzin Cathedral.

Subsequently, many attempts were made to find Noah's Ark. Often the results were positive, but did not provide evidence that would provide scientific confirmation of the event.

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Truth or legend?

It is still not entirely clear whether Noah's Ark actually existed. Official science cannot give a definitive answer to this question. It is only realistic to analyze the data from archaeological excavations, which may be directly related to the biblical legend. Researchers from all over the world have been trying for a long time (to be more precise, since the beginning of the 4th century) to find a floating vehicle, but none of them have yet been successful from a scientific point of view. Yes, many ancient artifacts, debris, texts, etc. were found, but there is still no clear evidence that the finds belong to the topic of research.

Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat

Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat, photographs of which are available from various angles in the Ron Wyatt Archaeological Museum, is believed to have been found in 1970. At least, this is what American Ronald Wyatt said after climbing Mount Ararat with a group of researchers. He was not an archaeologist by profession, but confidently relied on biblical texts.

At the height, a huge ship appeared to his eyes, preserved in lava, as if in a cocoon. Based on assumptions, its appearance from the bowels of the earth occurred after an earthquake, when hardened lava was ejected.

It was not possible to excavate the vessel, so the research was carried out using instruments. According to the American, the body is made of laminated wood. As a result of exposure to the external environment, the ship was severely damaged.

The anchor stone with the hole is clearly visible. It is very large in size. His task was to hold the ship while it was parked.

This place is the territory of Turkey, and it officially recognized the location of Noah's Ark. Now a national park of the same name has been built here. There are different opinions regarding the reliability of the facts. Some researchers argue that this is simply a natural formation.

From the expedition, Ron brought with him a piece of petrified wood for the purpose of analyzing it. The main goal was to obtain information about the presence of organic carbon, which is absent in ordinary stone.

Its amount was 0.7019%. This meant that wood used to be living matter. The material from which the ship was made caused a lot of controversy. According to the texts of the Bible, this should have been a gopher tree.

Scientists give different arguments here:

• Since "gopher" resembles the word "copher", which means resin, we can conclude that a resinous tree was used. Cypress is suitable here.

• Others believe that it was Lebanese cedar, which has properties such as strength, ease of processing and antiseptic characteristics. For these reasons, it was often used to build ships.
• If you focus on many ancient sources, the options expand. The ark could have been made from Indian juniper, pine, Iraqi oak or yew.

Ron also brought the remains of rivets. Apparently they were used to fasten wooden beams together. After analyzing them, it turned out that the area of ​​the rivet head pressed against the wood is 1 cm. It turns out that even in those days metal was used for construction.

Biblical righteous man

The legend about the ship that the biblical righteous man built is full of secrets and mysteries, but attempts to find answers give rise to new questions.

“Using mountaineering equipment, we reached a height of 5,000 meters. We passed the entire western glacier, reached an altitude of 5000 m. From this side we began to look at Akhor, at the inner part of this glacier. The approach to it is very difficult, because you can get caught in an avalanche or ice discharge. Therefore, this is where our expedition ended,” Vladimir Shataev, Honored Mountaineering Trainer of the USSR.

After the earthquake of 1840, a deep, 280-meter crevice appeared at the lower end of the glacier, called the Akhor Chasm. At its bottom, a lake formed from melted glacial waters. In 1848, Turkish officials surveyed the destruction caused by the disaster and came across a huge structure.

The commission members determined by eye the size of the object: height 17 m, length about 140 m. The dimensions of the ark were almost the same. They managed to penetrate three large internal compartments, all other rooms were filled with ice. The sides of the ship were made of wood, which is mentioned in the scripture - this tree grows only in the valley of the Euphrates River. Further examination of the object had to be stopped, because the huge cornice of the glacier hanging above them could collapse at any moment.

The commission's report on the discovery was published in the British newspaper Prophetic Messenger in 1883. However, instead of prompting scientists and archaeologists to search for the ark, it went virtually unnoticed.

Expeditions

Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat has constantly interested researchers. Photos of this ship, allegedly seen by someone, often appeared in publications. This led to the organization of a number of expeditions in search of the ancient ship.

In all subsequent years, ascents were made with varying success. Each new find refuted the previous version or was not objective enough, since it did not have irrefutable evidence.

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Approximately 2500 BC. e.

And the Lord God saw that people on Earth are full of evil, that they think and conceive only evil, and He regretted that He had created people on earth, and His heart became sad. And the Lord said: “I will destroy all the people whom I created on earth; I will destroy all the animals and everything that crawls on the earth and all the birds in the sky, for I regret that I created all this.”

But one person on earth, Noah, was pleasing to the Lord. He was righteous all his life and always followed God. He had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. God looked at the earth and saw that people had destroyed it: there was violence everywhere, the lives of people on earth were ruined. Then God said to Noah: “People have filled the earth with anger and violence, so I will destroy every living thing, sweep everything off the face of the earth. Take gopher wood and build a boat. Divide the boat into separate rooms and tar it inside and out. The length of the boat should be 300 cubits, width 50 cubits, height 30 cubits. Make a window in the boat under the roof, and make a door on the side. Build three decks in the boat: upper, middle and lower.”

Listen carefully to what I am telling you: I will bring a Great Flood on the earth and destroy every living thing under the heavens. Everything on earth will perish. I am making a special agreement with you: you, your sons, your wife and your sons’ wives will all enter the boat. You must take with you into the boat a pair of everything living on earth, male and female, so that they survive and continue their race after the flood. Find a pair from each type of bird, a pair from each type of animal, and a pair from each type of crawling creature. You must find a pair from all the animals so that they are male and female and keep them alive in your boat. Take also all kinds of food for yourself and for the animals.

Noah did everything as God commanded him.

(Modern translation of Genesis 6:5-22)

Approximately 2348 BC. e.

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the underground sources of water opened up and the heavens opened up, and heavy downpours fell on the earth. On the same day, Noah, his wife, his sons, along with their wives, entered the ark.

In the boat were all these people, every kind of land animals and every kind of livestock, every kind of reptile and every kind of bird. All these animals entered the boat with Noah. There were a couple of each species, male and female. They all got into the boat as God commanded Noah. And then the Lord closed the door of the boat behind Noah.

The rain fell on the earth for forty days and forty nights. The water increased and lifted the boat above the surface of the earth. The water continued to rise and the boat floated on the water high above the ground. The water rose so high that even the highest mountains were hidden under it, but it continued to rise above them and rose 15 cubits above the highest mountain.

All life on earth perished: all men and all women, all birds and all earthly animals. All the numerous species of animals perished and everything that crawled on the earth, every living breathing creature on land perished. So God swept everything away from the face of the earth. He destroyed all living creatures on earth: all people, all animals, all reptiles and all birds. Everything on earth was destroyed. Only Noah and those who were with him in the boat survived.

The water increased on the earth for one hundred and fifty days.

(Modern translation of Genesis 7:11-24)

God did not forget Noah. He remembered him and everyone who was with him in the boat. God sent a wind to the earth, and the waters stopped. The rain stopped pouring from the sky and the water stopped coming out of the ground. The water covering the land began to subside and after 150 days it sank so much that the boat touched land again, stopping on the Ararat Mountains.

(Modern translation of Genesis 8:1-4)

Please note: “ on the mountains of Ararat ”!

Many people at different times explored Mount Ararat in search of the remains of Noah's Ark. The Bible, however, says that Noah's ark stopped not on Mount Ararat, but on the mountains of Ararat. Not on a single mountain, but on multiple mountains. Examination of Hebrew manuscripts of the book of Genesis has found that the actual translation of this verse is that Noah's ark came to rest on the mountains of Urartu. And this is a whole huge region in eastern Turkey.

Early years of research

(From WAR Newsletter No. 8, July 1994)

Author: Maria Nell Wyatt

September 1960

Magazine "Life Shop" for 08/05/1960

Twenty-seven-year-old Ron Wyatt, along with thousands of other people, reads the following article in Life Store magazine regarding a strange ship-like formation at an altitude of 6350 feet (~1935.5 m) in the mountains of Ararat. Not on Mount Ararat, but in the Ararat Mountains.

Article from Life Store magazine, September 5, 1960.

NOAH'S ARK?

A vessel-like formation has been spotted near Mount Ararat.

Stereo photograph of a mysterious object:

While routinely viewing photographs taken from an airplane, Turkish Army Captain Lihan Durupinar was suddenly amazed by the image shown above. There in the mountains, ~20 miles south of Mount Ararat (where we know from the Bible the resting place of Noah's Ark), was a unique vessel-shaped formation approximately 500 feet long. The captain posted a photo.

Original of this photograph from the military dossier:

An expedition consisting of Turkish and American scientists immediately set off to this place.

At an altitude of approximately 7,000 feet above sea level, amidst the crevasses and debris of the landslide, the researchers found a flat, grassy area of ​​land shaped like a ship and bordered by a mound of earth on either side. Its dimensions are close to those given in the Bible: “the length of the ark should be 300 cubits, its width 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits.” A rapid two-day investigation found no evidence that the object was man-made. Despite this, the team's scientists say nothing in nature could have created such a symmetrical shape. Thorough excavations will be able to solve this mystery, which can only be carried out next year 1961*. (* Excavations were never carried out. The object was recognized as a freak of nature and interest in the find faded over time).

This is what Noah's Ark looked like in 1960.

FROM A HEIGHT it can be seen that a ship-like formation is located in the center of a landslide on the side of a mountain, which is located 25 miles from the Soviet border. The landslide is likely to be of recent origin, containing a thick layer of soil and oddly shaped rocks around it. The photo was taken from a Turkish aircraft during an aerial survey from an altitude of 10,000 feet.

ON THE GROUND , on the "stern" side, the 160-foot-wide object appears to have a grass-covered mound in the center. A 20-foot-high “frame” along the edges of the object hides the expedition's horses.

ON THE ROUGH PLATEAU, the smooth oval shape (back center) contrasts with the gullies around it. The bow of the ship is aimed at the peaks of the mountains located in the area called Agri-Tenduruk. The Turkish soldiers who accompanied the expedition used dynamite to blow up one section of thick packed earth along the sides of the site. Only small pieces of wood were found, but no large specimens in the so-called "frame" were found.

The area blown up with dynamite in 1960 by the first expedition of researchers:

Ron makes a decision

At that distant time, Ron was determined, without delay, to visit this place that same day and personally see everything. But it was a dream that he could hardly realize at that time. He had a sixteen-month-old daughter and a three-month-old son, and in thirteen months he would have another son. While working as a technologist in the quality control laboratory at the Hercules Powder Plant in Kalamazo, Michigan, he also studied at Western Michigan University.

But family problems soon forced him to abandon his hope of becoming a doctor, and in 1964 he moved to Kentucky, where he entered medical school. He graduated in 1967, then attended anesthesia school and graduated as a certified medical anesthesiologist in 1970. Also, at this time, he considered it reasonable to raise his three young children alone.

All this made it impossible for him to ever think that he would ever have the opportunity to visit the location of the strange boat-shaped object. Therefore, he was forced to limit himself to literature research in libraries and bookstores. But he did not lose interest at all - in fact, he accumulated knowledge. But his interest was not limited to Noah's Ark; he also studied all ancient chronology and archeology.

He discovered that there was very little information about Noah's Ark. This convinced him more than ever that no serious research had ever been undertaken on this topic. Everything he read was based on folklore and anecdotal evidence, and all the objects that were allegedly found were in different locations.

Hawaii

From 1973 to 1975 he lived with his children in Hawaii, where he was able to study volcanoes firsthand. His research confirmed the assumption that if the ark had landed on the volcanic Mount Ararat, it would definitely have been destroyed. Despite the fact that there are people who have written elaborate explanations about how the ark could survive on a volcanic mountain for many years, the eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980 would soon prove that NOTHING could survive on a volcanic mountain like the one which is Mount Ararat.

Mount Saint Helens before the eruption:

Eruption of Mount Saint Helens on May 18, 1980:

Mount Saint Helens after the eruption:

From all this, Ron concluded that if the ark had ever been located on Mount Ararat, it would have been destroyed long ago.

Mount Ararat:

The top of Mount Ararat is covered with glaciers that constantly move and grind everything in their path. Even if the ark could survive them, could it withstand the violent explosions of volcanic eruptions, the most recent of which destroyed much of the mountain? One of the most recent eruptions ended in the early 1800s with the formation of the Ohura Gorge. The Ohura Gorge is an eruption-ravaged area on the northwestern side of Mount Ararat, similar to the eroded side of Mount St. Helens in Washington State in the United States. No matter how strange it may seem, this area was precisely the place where most of the research was carried out to find Noah’s Ark on Mount Ararat.

The volcanic Mount Ararat compared with the similar volcanic Mount St. Helens, which erupted on May 18, 1980:

1975

Modeling "mountains"

Having moved back to the mainland in 1975, Ron decided that there was one form of research that he was capable of doing at that time. He made a small model of the boat using the same proportions as stated in the Bible, and then modeled “mountains” of various shapes from stones with a stream of water flowing from them.

While analyzing the floating of a model of Noah's Ark on a downdraft, he observed the reaction of the boat with different shapes of "mountains". The result of his research was that when the boat approached a simple peak extending out of the water, it simply sailed around it, without approaching it, much less landing on it. In scientific terms, this was the result of "lateral displacement" of the fluid flow.

He continued this experiment with different forms of "mountains" and each time there was the same result. But when he made a model of the crescent-shaped "mountains", he saw that the boat floating around that mountain was moved into the crescent area by the vortex effect, where it then floated quietly within that area.

Crescent Moon Shape Experiment:

With this information, Ron assumed that the ark should have stopped at this location. The laws of hydrodynamics, the actions and reactions of water were then and remain the same now. If the ark approached a mountain peak extending out of the water or directly below it, the displacement around the mountain would carry the ark with it away from it.

The study of water as a liquid with its unique properties, the study of hydrodynamics, hydromechanics, the study of the action and movement of waves - all these sciences are too complex and confusing. There is no point in thoroughly considering the action and reaction of water, as well as an object floating on water, but some simple rules should be clear to you.

If your ship on the high seas approaches a peak extending out of the water, only one of two things can happen:

1) The vessel will carry sideways around the mountain, or

2) The waves can have such strength and direction that they will carry the ship straight towards the mountain with such force that it can crash and fall apart.

From the above we can conclude that the ship could never stop on the steep slope of the mountain. This simply could never happen. And if the peak of the mountain were directly below the ship and the waters were slowly decreasing, the ship would still not stop on the slope of a mountain, such as Mount Ararat, since the displacement and movement of water around the underwater mountain would force the ship to move away from the mountain along with the water.

In order for a ship to land on a mountainside when the sea waters are receding, a necessary criterion is the process by which the displacement will capture the ship within the area. Only vortex flows could do this.

Capture of a vessel within the area by a vortex flow:

Ark size

One of Ron's favorite topics of study was how the measurement systems of the ancient Egyptians related to those described in the Bible. While Ron lived in Hawaii, he read everything he could get his hands on on the topic in the library.

Noah's Ark compared to a modern aircraft carrier:

And in all the confusion of information, there was one thing that was obvious to him - Moses was the author of the book of Genesis and therefore he knew the story of the flood. He was trained and raised in Egypt and the only unit of measurement that Moses knew was the royal Egyptian cubit - the most universal standard unit of measurement in the ancient world at that time.

No Hebrew cubit existed during Moses' lifetime, and the 500-foot measurement given in the Life Store magazine article was the clearest and most compelling evidence yet that the site was in need of continued exploration. After all, 300 royal Egyptian cubits equals 515 feet, rather than the commonly accepted 450 feet based on the Hebrew cubit that would be used much later.

The royal Egyptian cubit was a unit of measurement used in the construction of the Great Pyramid in Egypt. This cubit was used at least until the time of King Solomon. The gates he built in Israel are based on this very unit of measurement.

Ron Wyatt and Richard Reeves measuring Solomon's Gate at Megiddo:

Enlarged image of measurement: exactly 6 royal Egyptian cubits:

Translation of measurement systems and calculation of the length of the ark

1 inch = 2.54 cm; 1 foot = 12 inches = 30.48 cm;

1 royal Egyptian cubit = 20.62 inches = 52.375 cm;

300 royal Egyptian cubits = 515 feet = 157 m.

Rene Noorbergen's book "The Case of the Ark"

15 years have already passed since Ron read that article, but his interest has not diminished at all, but rather has only grown. Then he read the book “The Case of the Ark” by Rene Noorbergen, who was lucky enough to be part of an expedition to an object shaped like a ship in 1960.

Rene Noorbergen's book "The Case of the Ark":

Until this time, Ron had no detailed information regarding this object - nothing other than what he read in Life Store magazine. But now from the book he knew the names of the people who participated in the 1960 expedition.

Ron contacted all but one of the American expedition members and asked them anything they could tell him. When he told them he wanted to visit the location, they all said he was crazy to do that. They were all adamantly convinced that there was nothing worthy of attention there. All except one person - Dr. Arthur Brandenburger, who believed that it was still a ship.

Ron asked them about where this place was. After all, the statement “20 miles south of Mount Ararat” is a very vague and rather vague reference point in such a large region. But no one could tell him exactly how to get to the site, because they rode to the location on horseback for several hours, with a Turkish military man as their guide.

1977

It's time to go to Turkey!

Finally, in 1977, Ron felt for the first time that his children were old enough to either leave them home alone or take them with him to Turkey. For the first time, he had enough money to travel to Turkey, as well as two weeks free.

It has been 17 years since he first read about the location of the object. He told the kids exactly what he was going to do, and his boys, Danny, who had just turned seventeen, and Ronnie, who would be sixteen in two months, also wanted to go with him. Ron believed that God saw everything ahead and knew what could happen to them on this trip, so he left the decision on this issue to God. And puzzled by the question of whether to take the boys with him or not, he did the only thing that he considered necessary to do then - he said a small prayer that if, by the will of God, the boys should go, then they would receive their passports on time and would be free seats on a flight from New York to Istanbul.

When Ron called the airport, he was told that the last seat on the flight could be reserved for him, and when he asked to see if there were still seats available, he was again told that there were no seats available. This was a week before his departure date. But two days later he received a call from the airline - it turned out that there were currently two free seats on this flight, and they asked if he wanted to book them? Of course he booked them. But there was still the matter of obtaining passports for the boys, a procedure that usually took several weeks. But what’s surprising is that Danny received the documents in three days and then received Ronnie’s documents the next day.

August 1977

Where is the ark?

On August 9, 1977, they arrived in Istanbul. Then it was not like now - they had to go by bus to Ankara, and then by train to Erzurum. It took three whole days, and during this time they still did not reach Dogubiyazit, a small town near the location where they were heading. In Erzurum, they hired a taxi to Dogubiyazit, telling the driver to take them to their hotel.

Hotel "Erzurum" in Dogubiyazit:

But eastern Türkiye is not a thriving area for tourism. This is a remote and very dangerous area. Very few people speak English there. How can they find the ship object?

Many would probably find Ron's method of obtaining information a little strange, but once again he did the only thing he knew he needed to do—he prayed about it. He also told the boys to say a prayer that the taxi would stop at the place where they were to begin their search. Moreover, their taxi driver did not speak English and they did not know if anyone in this city would speak English, and even if someone did, then would he know where this ship object was? After all, 17 years have passed since the expedition came here - perhaps the townspeople have long forgotten about it.

Stopped Taxi

Thus, while riding in a taxi, they all prayed. But not with big complex prayers, but simply mentally asking for help. Ron reasoned that if Noah's Ark was real, then of course the rest of the Bible was real, including everything it said about prayer. And on the way to the city, the taxi engine stalled.

Full of excitement as their prayers had been answered, the three of them got out of the taxi and collected a pile of stones off to the side of the road while the amazed driver looked on from under the roof of his car. When they all returned to the taxi, he still started the engine and they drove further down the road.

Soon they stopped again. With a little less enthusiasm, they again left a pile of stones on the side of the road. The taxi started again when they all returned back. Finally they stopped again. Ron and sons thought they might have hired a faulty vehicle. But despite this, they still collected a pile of stones again and then safely reached the hotel.

It was already late evening when they arrived and as soon as they checked into the Erzurum Hotel in Dogubiyazıt, they, completely exhausted from the long journey, fell into a deep sleep.

Day 1. Anchor Stones

The next morning they hired another taxi and headed back to the third and closest pile of stones from the city. From there they began their journey in a perpendicular direction from the road.

They soon reached a small village, where several unfriendly people approached them. One of them had a shotgun. By communicating with them in sign language, Ron convinced the people that they were just tourists. Believing this, local residents offered themselves as guides.

While wandering mile after mile through the mountainous landscape, one of the men suggested that Ron take a photo next to a very large standing stone. It was only after looking through the viewfinder that Ron remembered that the stone was identical to anchor stones found in the Mediterranean Sea. He had seen these in archaeological books.

The stone he found was exactly the same, except for one thing - it was many, many times larger!

Ron examined it carefully and saw that it had eight crosses carved into it. When the villagers saw that Ron was interested, they showed him several more similar stones in the area. All of them were similar to other ancient anchor stones, but these were many, many times larger in size. All had crosses carved on them.

One of the anchor stones with 8 crosses carved on it, discovered near the “village of eight”. The section with the hole is broken off from the base:

The anchor stones Ron found have specially designed holes that were commonly found on anchor stones. Wider on one side and narrow on the other, these holes were even wider in the middle.

The meaning and purpose of this particular design of holes is to hold the anchor stone in traction with the ship using a rope or rope, and also to prevent the rope from fraying at the attachment point. It is assumed that the rope was inserted into the hole of the anchor stone from the narrower side of the hole, which prevented it from slipping out. Then the rope was tied into a knot. And when the anchor stone was placed in the water, the knot of the rope swelled and was fixed in an even wider middle of the hole, and thereby the rope was prevented from fraying in this place.

Sea anchors are designed to be in the water and moving with the ship, to stabilize and keep the ship perpendicular to the oncoming waves; unlike a regular anchor, which prevents it from moving. This type of sea anchor is constantly found at the bottom of the Mediterranean and other seas, as they were often used on ancient ships.

Everything was photographed and filmed on a movie camera with eight-millimeter film (no video cameras existed then). Ron and his sons were very impressed by what they saw, but they did not find the object-ship. They returned back to the hotel by nightfall.

Day 2. House and Fence

The next morning they returned to the second pile of stones, which was not too far from the first, and again began to walk perpendicular to the road. Soon they saw the walls of a very ancient stone house, the floors of which had sunk almost 4 feet (~122 cm) into the ground. The roof had collapsed and it was obvious that no one had lived here for many years.

Radial to the house was a very large stone barrier structure about a mile (~1.6 km) long. They were also hidden by several layers of soil and only their top rose several feet (1 ft = 30 cm) above the surface of the earth.

Remains of the destroyed house of Noah:

Tombstones

But the most interesting feature of this place was what was in the front yard. There were two large stones, one of which stood upright and the other lay flat on the ground.

Tombstones:

These stones were carved with very fascinating images: on top there was an arched shape reminiscent of a rainbow; below was a wave-like shape that resembled an ocean wave, and above it was a very simple boat; Eight figures of people were depicted leaving from this boat and the waves. The first and largest figure was a man; the next and second largest figure was a woman; the next three were all the same in size, but still smaller than the woman depicted - these were men; the last and smallest were three women.

Carved image on the tombstone:

It seemed quite obvious to Ron that the painting was an iconographic representation of the eight survivors of the flood emerging from a vessel with a rainbow on top. But what did all this mean?

When he examined these two large monuments more carefully, he noted that in the one that lay flat on the ground, the largest woman (the supposed wife of Noah) had her eyes closed and her head tilted down. On the larger one, which was still standing, he saw that both the first woman and the first man (presumably Noah) had their eyes closed and their heads tilted down. Since the monuments were in front of the house, Ron realized that they were actually the tombstones of Noah and his wife's grave.

The iconography showed that Noah's wife died first, and on her stone only her eyes were closed. And when Noah died, both of them were already presented as dead.

What Ron and the boys found in those first two days was extremely important. While they did not find the vessel object, they did find clear signs that a family of eight people had definitely lived in this area in the distant past. The arrangement of eight crosses on the anchor stones showed that someone already during the Christian era identified these huge stones with the ark and its eight passengers.

Noah farmed

Ancient house found - was it Noah's house? They only had one morning to explore everything related to the house, but the thick walls and the presence of extensive stone barriers are already proof. The Bible calls Noah a “farmer.” “Noah began to cultivate the land and planted a vineyard; and he drank wine and became drunk, and lay naked in his tent” (Gen. 9:20-21).

It says that Noah was in a tent, not in a house like our houses. But Ron learned that the people of this region, like representatives of other patriarchal communities, still lived in tents in the summer and in real houses in the winter. This seems entirely consistent with the reference to a vineyard bearing fruit in the warmer season.

Farming includes both agriculture and animal husbandry. After the flood, it made sense to breed livestock and other animals and take care of their reproduction in order to eliminate the possibility of their extinction and not to lose them to the nature of the Earth, since there were only two individuals of unclean animals in the ark. Perhaps a huge area for a farm was fenced off for this purpose. The depth to which the foundation of the existing barrier went proves its great antiquity. Over many years, due to dust and dirt, the main ground level rose, and ancient buildings found themselves in the thickness of the applied soil.

How Noah dressed

“And Ham the father of Canaan saw his father’s nakedness, and went out and told his two brothers” (Gen. 9:22). Here we find an account of a drunken Noah and his “nakedness” noticed by Ham. From this we can learn about how Noah dressed, and also from a tiny detail in an image found on the tombstones of Noah and his wife that shows the clothing of that time. She is like a robe. Noah did not have clothing like the trousers that modern people wear, which would cover his nakedness no matter how he lay.

The giant altar and its complex

The house is located on a very beautiful plain that stretches from west to east. There are mountains on the north and south sides. In this region, the entire terrain is rocky, and especially in this isolated area where the village was located and where the anchor stones were discovered. Everywhere you looked there were only rocks, rocks and more rocks. But when Ron and the boys looked around behind the farm on the north side, they saw a beautiful hill with two small hills and a depression between them. And right in this depression lay a large square stone, as if it had been specially installed here. Behind this stone rose a natural amphitheater formed by the hills.

Diagram of the location of objects in the area of ​​Noah's house:

To the side of this large stone there were several small areas surrounded by a fence of stones. If Noah did have a farm, then this stone could have been a very large altar, behind which a large number of people could have been seated for animal sacrifices.

Altar of Noah:

“And Noah built an altar to the Lord; And he took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered them as burnt offerings on the altar” (Gen. 8:20).

The altar itself measures 12*12*12 feet (3.65 m*3.65 m*3.65 m) and there is a step next to it. When we climbed it, it was obvious that whoever approached this altar was much taller than us, since the step was about 3 feet high.

The complex of fenced pens near the altar also proves that the people who laid the stones in these structures were very strong, because our contemporaries would not have been able to move such large stones without the help of machinery. At one point, a very large boulder is balanced on several vertical stones, which a person 6 feet tall (~1.80 m) could walk under without stooping.

Also in this complex are two very large stones, the installation features of which indicate that they were used to slaughter animals and collect their blood. “Every moving thing that lives will be food for you; I give you everything like green herbs; Only you shall not eat flesh with its life or its blood” (Gen. 9:3-4). One corresponds to the size of animals like sheep or goats, and the other is much larger and corresponds to the size of large animals such as oxen. They both have recesses for storing animals and hollowed-out recesses with channels for collecting blood and for later bringing the carcass to the altar. According to the biblical description, certain parts of the animal were offered as sacrifices, while other parts were intended to be eaten before God (Lev. 1-9 ch.).

Ron photographed and filmed everything. There is much more material collected than listed here, but what is presented in this review is the most important. By the end of the second day they had seen more than enough to consider the trip worthwhile. But they had one more day left.

(To be continued)

Opponents of the history of the existence of the ark and why this denial benefits them

Opponents of the search for Noah's Ark include those who believe that this should not be done. If you rely on the chronicles, you can see that after finding him, the end of the world will immediately come. Supporters of this theory exist in modern times - mostly these are deeply religious people who do not believe that ancient chronicles need to be confirmed in any way.

For Armenian believers, Mount Ararat is a sacred place. In their opinion, conducting searches in such a place is blasphemy, therefore it is forbidden to climb the shrine.

Interesting Facts

1. Students at the British University of Leicester carried out calculations based on Archimedes' principle, trying to understand how the dimensions indicated in Genesis (6:13-22) could ensure the salvation of the animals that existed in pairs at that time. The conclusion surprised many: the tool was really capable of not only accommodating about 35 thousand species, but also “staying afloat.” In total, the product was able to withstand 70 thousand animals. Moreover, the material from which the ship was supposed to be composed was cypress, and not cladrastis or “gopher” according to Genesis 6:14, indicated in the biblical book.

1. 
   The voyage time of the ark is 150 days or 5 months. According to another version - 190 days, if you count the rain that lasted 40 days. If we take into account the moment of complete drying of the land, which took about 133 days, it turns out that the family and animals spent 330 days afloat, i.e. almost a calendar year.

2. It is written in ancient chronicles that the day when people find the wreckage of the ship will be the end of the world. Supporters of this theory can still be found today.
3. According to legend, of all the birds, Noah let the raven onto the “saving deck” first.
4. God not only told Noah to build an ark. He gave practical recommendations for its size in “cubits” - a unit of measurement equal to approximately 43 cm. If converted to the metric system, the approximate dimensions would be 144 m in length, 24 m in width and 14 m in height. According to various sources, the volume of the vessel was about 39.6-42.5 thousand cubic meters. m. For comparison: the volume of freight train cars is 76 cubic meters, respectively, the ship was able to accommodate about 522 such cars. Its displacement is estimated at 13.96 tons. It is curious that this is the only floating vessel mentioned in the Bible with exact dimensions indicated.

1. 
   This is a huge wooden box that was not designed for purposeful movement through water, but allowed it to maintain a stable position and “float with the flow.”

2. The height of the invention, according to experts, reached the size of a three-story house, and the length was about 1.5 football fields.
3. The proportions of the vessel are used in shipbuilding today and are equal to 6:1.
4. According to researchers, food reserves accounted for 15% of the vessel, water - 10%. Moreover, the design of the vessel made it possible to collect rainwater.
5. There are at least 240 cultures around the world that recognize the global flood. This phenomenon has also been evidenced by animal remains in rocks found all over the world. Even Leonardo da Vinci was amazed by the presence of fossilized sea creatures in the Alps.
6. In Holland you can find an exact copy of the ship, the production of which was sponsored by a local millionaire.

1. The first tree Noah planted after the flood was a vineyard. He was a winemaker. This is the most ancient plant, mention of it occurs about 200 times in the New and Old Testaments. According to some reports, Noah subsequently had an addiction to wine.
2. Noah is considered the person who lived the longest - 969 years.
3. Such a heavenly phenomenon as a rainbow is a gift from God to the descendants of Noah as a sign of a promise to never again exterminate the human race. This is stated in Genesis 9:12-13.
4. According to Judaism, any believer is obliged to fulfill the Seven Laws of Noah, transmitted to humanity after the Flood. Such laws include belief in one God, prohibition of blasphemy, murder, adultery, theft, respect for animals and the obligation to create and follow laws. In Christianity, the flood is a prototype of baptism and, accordingly, the Church.

3.5 / 5 ( 2 voices)

Facts in favor of the reality of history

There are many myths surrounding the existence of Noah's Ark.

However, if you look at it objectively, you can make arguments in favor of the reality of such a theory:

• The presence of traces of a huge ship, and around there are columnar formations reminiscent of ship beams. Perhaps these are parts of the ship that fell off while it was sliding down the mountainside.
• When viewing the ridge from afar, the hull of a huge ship is clearly visible in the glacier.

• During the exploration of the site, huge processed boulders with a hole were discovered. By assumption these are anchors. Their size indicates the scale of the vessel.
• Researchers who visited these places found a body embedded in the glacier. They enlightened it and found ribs fastened with wooden nails, a door and a huge hole. Over a long period of time, any metal or wood is destroyed. However, being in the glacial mass, the material is well preserved.
• During a survey of the area, tombstones were found. Apparently Noah's entire family was buried here.

Assumptions and their justifications

There are different opinions about the existence of Noah's Ark.

The theory is based on assumptions and attempts to substantiate them:

• Despite the enormous size of the ark, it would be impossible to place such a number of animals as 30 million in it. And given that it was necessary to take everything in double quantity, the value doubled. Perhaps it was necessary to accept only those animals that were present in Noah's place of residence. Reading the Book of Genesis, there are few species listed. As a result, 260 individuals needed to be loaded.
• The remains of the ship were found at an altitude of 4000 meters. But recent studies have shown their age to be 800 BC. e. There is an assumption that the ship was originally built at such a height, but was not completed.
• Another assumption suggests that the ship landed at the top of Mount Ararat, rising above the surface of the water. Apparently tired travelers found a place of refuge here.

• The size of the ship was enormous. To build it with the help of one family is an impossible task. However, measurements are given in elbows, and this measure is not very accurate. Perhaps the ship was much smaller.

Library of Ashurbanipal

In 1855, during excavations of Ancient Babylon, British archaeologists discovered hundreds of clay tablets with the writings of ancient Sumerians. They went down in history as the Library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal.

Twelve of the tablets found contain the poem of Gilgamesh. It describes the story of Utnapishtim, one of the subjects of King Gilgamesh, who saved himself and his family from a flood caused by the angry gods.

“I will reveal to Gilgamesh the secret word, the great gods’ hearts inclined them to arrange a flood. Bright-eyed Ea swore with them, but he told me their word: “Demolish your home, build a ship, leave abundance, take care of life, despise wealth, save your soul. Load all living things onto your ship.”

Gilgamesh was the hero of all Sumerian and Babylonian epics, a very famous figure. This is a historical figure - his seal was found, that is, scientists know that there really was such a person.

“As for the Middle Eastern parallels, they are the most obvious. The similarity between the myth of the flood in the epic of Gilgamesh and, say, the biblical version – the story of the flood – is truly striking,” Lyudmila Zhukova, deputy. Head of the Center for the Study of Religions of the Russian State University for the Humanities.

The Assyrian Noah-Utnapishtim escaped by mooring to the mountain, his ship corresponds to the description of the ark known to us. Most people know the story of the great flood from the Christian scripture - the Bible. It says that many thousands of years ago a moment came when humanity came to complete moral degeneration, and therefore had to perish in the waters of an unprecedented flood. Noah turned out to be the only righteous person on Earth.

“And God said to Noah: “The end of the flesh has come, for the earth is filled with evil deeds from them. I will destroy them from the earth. Make yourself an ark, make compartments in the ark, and cover it with pitch inside and outside.” (Bible - Genesis)

The philosophy of this story is presented a little differently in the Koran; there is also a story with Noah. The storm in which everything perishes is very vividly described. There are details about one of Noah's sons who thought he would be saved on the mountain and stayed, but was washed off the mountain so he died anyway. This is another one of those stories of defiance.

There is a Greek story where the king of Phthia, Deucalion (son of Prometheus), learned from his father that there would be a flood, because Zeus decided to send disaster to people: he also did not like that people behaved depravedly. And he built a ship, this ship floats, sticks to the mountain: either to Etna, or to Athos, they also release a dove.

That is, such a set of certain wandering plots, a myth, which, on the one hand, is built according to a certain principle - it always combines a certain universality, a global flood and a very specific thing, specific points, places and even specific ways of dealing with the fact that God sends it on people.

Obvious speculation without reasonable confirmation

The story surrounding Noah's Ark raises doubts among skeptics.

They consist of the following:

• The remains of a ship found on Mount Ararat look fossilized. This must have happened as a result of prolonged contact of wood with rock. At the same time, the decaying organic matter was replaced by minerals. However, analysis showed that such a fossil turns the material into quartz, which is hard like diamond. The samples under study do not have such properties.
• Studying the trace of the ship's movement along the mountainside, scientists came to the conclusion that this was an ordinary fold from a sliding glacier. Since this phenomenon occurs often, the hull of the ship would now be not on the slope of the mountain, but at its foot.
• The flood also raises doubts. Such a cataclysm should have left a deep mark on nature. Geological studies have not found this confirmation.

Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat, or rather the almost ideal shape of the vessel, remaining after many thousands of years in the place indicated in the Bible, really confirms the likelihood of its existence.

Despite the presence of photographs demonstrating this and the availability of fossilized wood, metal rivets and boulders with carved holes for ropes that served as anchors, as well as other evidence from many expeditions, there are many skeptics of this theory today.

This is due to the fact that all the collected facts are not irrefutable evidence for the approval of this historical event. As for believers, they do not need any evidence, because the Bible does not raise doubts in them.

Author: Kudryaviy Alexander Yurievich (kudrale)

Article design: Oleg Lozinsky

Life after the flood

According to the Bible, new life began about 5,000 years ago. And the place of birth after the flood civilization was the two-headed Ararat - a mountain of volcanic origin on the border of Armenia and Turkey.

In the area where the biblical culture was formed, where even before Abraham his ancestors, the ancient Semites, lived in Mesopotamia and further south, there are constantly floods, sometimes catastrophic. Archaeological data suggests that about 17-18 thousand years ago there was a particularly large flood, which probably served as a prototype for the plot, for history, legend, and became the literary basis for the story of Noah.

Jesus Christ: Son of God born in a stable

“It is likely that these myths reflect some truly real and quite serious cataclysms. Eyewitnesses could well perceive them as a universal disaster. Of course, there is no need to talk about a flood on a universal scale,” Lyudmila Zhukova, deputy. Head of the Center for the Study of Religions of the Russian State University for the Humanities.

Indeed, the universality of the great flood raises great doubts among scientists. It should be borne in mind that for our ancestors the concept of peace meant what was within their reach, and the Middle East, where Gilgamesh and Utnapishtim lived, this, according to the concepts of the part of humanity that lived here, meant peace.

“For a modern person, it is obvious that if we are talking about a global flood, it means that South America should also have drowned, but it did not drown. The biblical author did not know about the existence of South America; for him it was completely unimportant,” Anatoly Lakirev, priest, cleric of the Church of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God.

“Almost everyone, in the mythology of all peoples from India to the Sumerians and so on, has a description of the flood, which means that these floods apparently happened. I believe that very important reasons are tectonic reasons - when, as a result of the interaction between plates, large earthquakes occur, moving huge water masses,” Alexander Gorodnitsky, geophysicist, academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences.