Can it be possible that the remains of Noah’s Ark have been discovered? Well, researchers in Turkey claim to have done just that.

For many people the story of Noah’s Ark is just that – a good story. But for others, the biblical tale of the Ark is one that can be taken literally. And what follows on from that belief is the possibility that the archaeological remains of Noah’s ship may one day be discovered. Now, some researchers claim to have done just that.

Before we explore the details of the incredible claims that the remains of Noah’s Ark have been discovered, let’s first remind ourselves about the great flood. The original story of Noah and his Ark is to be found in the Old Testament Book of Genesis, chapters six to nine. Genesis, of course, is where you’ll also find an account of the creation of Earth and the fall of Adam and Eve.

God is unhappy with the way that part of his creation, the human race, has not lived up to his expectations. As Genesis has it, “And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.” So God decides to act forcefully, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air…”

But there was one man who God believed to be worthy of saving: Noah. As Genesis says, “Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.” God also decides to save Noah’s wife and his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, along with their wives.

God’s punishment of humanity, excepting Noah and his kin, is to take the form of a huge flood. He warns Noah of his intention and bids him to build an ark, giving him detailed instructions, “The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.”

Image: via Wikimedia Commons — Image: Edward Hicks

God further instructs Noah that he should embark not only himself and his family, but also examples of all the animals of the world. He tells Noah, “And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.”

The flood duly comes in what Genesis tells us was “the six hundredth year of Noah’s life.” And it lasts for 150 days, killing all living things on the planet save those aboard the Ark. Finally, the flood abates and God promises Noah that, “…neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.”

Image: via Wikimedia Commons — Image: Ivan Aivazovsky

In fact, Genesis does tell us where the Ark came to rest after the flood: “upon the mountains of Ararat.” And that’s precisely where people claimed in May 2017 to have discovered the remains of the Ark – on Mount Ararat.

The discovery in 2017 was made by a documentary film outfit from Hong Kong, Noah’s Ark Ministries International, whose members are evangelical Christians. One of them, Yeung Wing-cheung, told the Daily Express, “It’s not 100 per cent that it is Noah’s Ark, but we think it is 99.9 per cent that this is it.”

The researchers claim to have discovered bits of timber that they have carbon dated to 4,800 years ago. They allegedly found this evidence at an altitude of 13,000 feet on Mount Ararat, which is a dormant volcano in Turkey. It lies just across the border from the Armenian capital of Yerevan.

In fact, it seems that the alleged Ark is remarkably well preserved. Another member of the research team, Man-fai Yuen, said, “The structure is partitioned into different spaces. We believe that the wooden structure we entered is the same structure recorded in historical accounts.” This picture purports to show the interior of the Ark.

And we even have a photograph of one of the researchers inside the structure that the Noah’s Ark Ministries International team claims to have found on the mountain. “I saw a structure built with plank-like timber,” Panda Lee, who was part of research group, told the Daily Express. “Each plank was about 8 inches wide. I could see tenons, proof of ancient construction predating the use of metal nails.”

Actually, we have been here before. Indeed, claims to have found Noah’s Ark have been around for centuries. In 1722 a French Benedictine monk, Antoine Augustin Calmet, wrote in his Dictionary of the Bible that, “It is affirmed, but without proof, that there are still remains of Noah’s ark on the top of this mountain; but M. de Tournefort, who visited this spot, has assured us there was nothing like it.”

In 1876 the British aristocrat and explorer James Bryce also climbed Mount Ararat. He claimed to have found a piece of wood that was 5 inches thick and subsequently declared that this was a fragment from Noah’s Ark. Moving on to the 20th century, ex-astronaut James Irwin mounted a series of fruitless expeditions in search of the Ark.

Although Mount Ararat has been the focus of most searches for remains of Noah’s Ark, other locations have also been favored by some. For example, in the ’80s and ’90s the Wyatt’s Ark Discovery Institute claimed that the remains of the Ark were actually to be found at the Durupinar site on another Turkish mountain, Tendürek. But geologists say that the ark-like shape there is a natural occurrence.

Moreover, Noah’s Ark Ministries International, the Hong Kong team who have claimed to find the Ark in 2017, have actually been finding it since 2010. In that year the group released a YouTube video that was said to show a cave with walls covered in fossilized timber from the Ark.

And, even more oddly, the exact same 2017 quote that we saw earlier from Yeung Wing-Cheung first emerged seven years earlier. Speaking to Agence-France Presse in 2010, presumably the same Wing-Cheung said, “It’s not 100 per cent that it is Noah’s Ark, but we think it is 99.9 per cent that this is it.” Peculiar indeed.

Back in 2010 National Geographic seemed to be less than convinced by the purported discovery. In its report, that venerable publication quoted archaeologist Paul Zimansky, a Middle East expert from Stony Brook University. “I don’t know of any expedition that ever went looking for the ark and didn’t find it,” he said.

In October 2017 the Daily Express returned to the Mount Ararat story that it had covered earlier in the year. Now there was a new expert to comment on the discovery of Noah’s Ark. Professor Dr. Oktay Belli is quoted by the newspaper as saying, “Noah’s Ark, the Flood is not a myth but a real incident mentioned in all holy books.”

However, earlier in the year the very same newspaper had quoted British archaeologist Mike Pitts on the same subject. He said, “If there had been a flood capable of lifting a huge ship four kilometers 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.”