Searching
for Noah's Ark
By Bruce L. Gerig
So, what to write about in winter? The Bahamas, barbecues, the beach? Actually liking winter, my mind drifted to something the height of cold and icy. Mount Ararat. That towering, twin-peaked mountain located on the far-eastern border of Turkey, that rises majestically some 17,000' above sea level and 15,500' above the surrounding plain. And, of course, that leads us to the fabled Noah's Ark, which some claim still survives, buried up there in ice. Since the upper 3,000' is perpetually covered with ice and snow, it is at least possible that an ancient artifact could have survived (remember the discoveries elsewhere of frozen, fully-intact men and mammals?). Yet, if the Ark was discovered, wouldn't this be splashed all over the nightly news?
A while back, I decided to investigate the matter. Checking the libraries
at Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University, I found about a dozen
books on the Ark. Some dismissed it as myth, others concluded that it had
survived on Mt. Ararat, and still others went off in narrow historical or
literary directions that didn't really address the main question that plagued
me: What about all those reported "witness accounts," and are any
of them valid? In the end, I found three helpful books: One, The Ark on
Ararat by T. LaHaye and J. Morris (1976), included many accounts, was
well footnoted, and gave some evaluation – but it is now older (and
out of print).
I felt I really hit "pay dirt," however, with The Explorers of
Ararat, and the Search for Noah's Ark, edited by B.J. Corbin (1999), which
I found through the Internet. About half of this book gives detailed accounts
by thirteen different explorers who have climbed Mt. Ararat – and one
discovers how difficult such expeditions are to arrange, how treacherous Ararat
is to scale, and how inaccessible the Ark is, buried under ice most of the
time (except during long, hot periods). Also, severe earthquakes on the mountain
appear to have broken whatever is up there into 3-4 separate pieces, which
now slowly slide down in glacier ice, into the deep, northern Ahora Gorge.
The remainder of Corbin's book is given over to a description of some 85 witness
accounts of various kinds (53 since the great 1840 earthquake). He also includes
later analyses and many criticisms bearing on the various reports, which have
clearly revealed some of them to be false. The third book, The Ark, A Reality?
by Richard Bright (3rd ed., 1989), although older than Corbin, offers some
material not included in The Explorers of Ararat.
So, is Noah's Ark up there or not? One interesting report (1989) comes from
George Stephen III, a military-trained, remote-sensing photo interpreter,
who concluded after studying official satellite images of Mt. Ararat that
"there's two large, man-made objects up there on the north side of the
mountain … not metal and it's not rock [but] perhaps wood" –
one at 16,000' and the other at 14,800'. Although generally covered throughout
the year with 70-30 feet of ice, they were "joined at one time because
there is a spectral trail going down from one to the other." Although
Stephen has not been able to produce hard evidence (he says the photos are
"classified"), another remote-sensing specialist (Tom Pickett) evaluated
his report as "an excellent technical description." More important,
later in 1989, Dr. Ahmet Arslan, a skeptical Turkish guide, climbed up to
Stephen's coordinates on Mt. Ararat and unexpectedly saw, from a distance
of ca. 1,200', the end of a huge, geometric structure protruding out of the
snow. Although close detail is hard to see in Arslan's photograph (printed
in Corbin's book, p. 138) because the black hull blends in with dark shadow,
the structure clearly has a peaked roof, with gently sloping sides. One remembers
God's instructions given Noah to build an ark (a box), measuring ca. 45' high
x 75' wide x 450' long (if 1 cubit = 18"). It was to have three decks,
many rooms, and one side door (Gen 6:14-16). Its upper tsohar
("roof " or "window" area, v. 16) extended up an additional
18" (v. 16); later Noah would release birds from the window of the ark
(8:6), to see if the earth was once again inhabitable.
Who are some others who have claimed to see the Ark? (1) After three
years of very hot weather and little rainfall, a young Georgie Hagopian (about
age 10), whose Armenian family lived near Lake Van (75 miles S of Ararat),
was taken up twice by his uncle to see the Ark (bet. 1904-06?). He described
it as very long, rectangular, and bluish-green in color (from green moss on
it). The roof was flat, except for a raised row of "air holes,"
50 or more, which ran from front to back on the craft. The wood looked like
stone; and when his uncle fired a shot at it, the bullets simply bounced off
the Ark onto the ground. Although age can blur memories, a weather check for
the Ararat region has documented that during 1901-04 the high temperature
and low precipitation numbers were so abnormal as to be "off the charts."
(2) During World War II and stationed in Iran, Ed Davis was taken up to see
the Ark (1943) by his driver's family (the Abases), who lived near Mt. Ararat.
After climbing for three days and facing rain, fog and freezing wind, finally
Davis looked down and saw about 100' of the Ark sticking out of the ice. He
could see "partitions and walkways" inside the broken end, and a
second piece of the Ark rested down in a lower canyon. Then it snowed all
night, and by morning the Ark was no longer visible. (3) A number
of U.S. pilots, making reconnaissance flights over Ararat during World War
II (1943-45) saw the Ark exposed during hot spells; and photographs taken
were shown around to others, who remember them, and were also printed with
articles in various issues of the military Stars and Stripes. Air Force
Sergeant Vince Will was one such eyewitness, who looking down during a flight
across Ararat, saw part of the Ark sticking out of the ice, a little above
the 14,000' level.
(4) In 1958, 1964 and 1968, the National Geographic Society led expeditions
to the Ark. David Duckworth, a young man who was working in the fall of 1968
as a volunteer in the vertebrate paleontology section at the Smithsonian Institution
in Washington, DC, went over one day to see why his supervisor was so excited
and Al Merrick showed him a large, composite aerial photograph of the Ark.
Infrared photos had been taken from a balloon with a camera suspended over
the boat by cables. A month later several crates arrived, out of which were
unpacked pieces of ancient wood, old-style tools, and other artifacts. Dr.
Robert Geist, a scientist from the expedition, told Duckworth that "they
had used thermite bombs to burn into portions of the hull" so they could
go inside and take photos – one of which showed "a stall or cage
and a box that might have served as a feeding trough…" Dr. Geist
told Duckworth that he had finally concluded that this was Noah's Ark because
of a central gathering place that must have been used to get rid of waste.
Later, additional crates landed on the loading dock, marked "MT ARARAT
– National Geographic / Smithsonian Expedition" – and a coffin-shaped
alabaster box was carried in, which contained a preserved (frozen or mummified)
body.
Then five days later, all the buzz suddenly stopped. Officials "started
taking the stuff [from the Ark] out and placing it under lock and key."
The staff was instructed never to mention it again. Duckworth didn't think
too much about it at the time; but later, after his story appeared in Violet
Cummings' Has Anyone Really Seen Noah's Ark? (1982), he was visited
by two "FBI agents," who told him that he was "making waves
at the Smithsonian" and that "he had seen something that did not
concern him." Rene Noorbergen, a veteran news reporter, spoke with a
source who attended the high-level meeting in Washington where the NG/SI officials
decided not to release, but rather bury, everything found on Ararat.
Yet, this 1968 expedition has been confirmed by five people, in different
locations, who were in Turkey at the time and who crossed paths with members
of the Ararat expedition team returning home – all of whom were told
excitedly, "You wouldn't believe what we've found! But we can't say anything."
Still, perhaps God has a hand in all of this. At the University of Erzurum
(located 150 miles W of Mt. Ararat), an Islamic scholar told Robin Simmons,
one ark explorer: "The Ark is a bomb in the world!" He explained
that there is widespread belief in the region that the revelation of the Ark
will be a sign that Mohammed is returning to purge the earth of all the heretics
in a holy war. Then all true believers will go to heaven in a restored Golden
Ark. Perhaps we should all be glad that the Ark has not been more "discovered"
than it has. The truth is out there for those who earnestly want to search
for it and find it. So it often seems to be God's way.
NOTE: Ahmet Arslan's photograph taken of Noah's Ark in 1989
can be viewed at http://www.noahsarksearch.com/abich2.htm
Two paintings by the artist Elfred Lee of the Ark, based on George
Hagopian's descriptions as he saw it as a child, when
he visited it with his father, can be
viewed at http://www.noahsarksearch.com/LeeElfred/09.JPG
and at http://www.noahsarksearch.com/LeeElfred/04.JPG
Young Georgie climbed up the ladder (added at some point to the front
of the Ark) and walked along the roof. An account of his description
is contained in Corbin's book (to order, e-mail books@greatcommission.com).
Check out the website: http://www.noahsarksearch.com
© 2003 Bruce L. Gerig
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