Has Noah's Ark been found?
Has Noah's Ark been found?
By David Serd : April 28, 2010
(Update 1: April 30, 2010)
(Update 2: June 14, 2010
Noah's Ark has been found, according to countless news reports in late April 2010. But this claim has been heavily disputed by archaeologists who say it is a fraud.
Team members from a Hong Kong group called Noah's Ark Ministries International say they found a wooden structure under the ice on Mount Ararat — the mountain on which the Bible says Noah's Ark landed.
The wood was allegedly found more than 4000 metres (13,000 feet) up the mountain, and has apparently been carbon-dated to about 4800 years. The height and the date are roughly what Bible scholars expect from the accounts in the Bible.
Team member Yeung Wing-cheung, part of the 15-strong team from Noah's Ark Ministries International, said the structure they found had compartments, some with wooden beams, which could have held animals.
At a press conference, another team member, Panda Lee, reportedly said: “I saw a structure built with plank-like timber.
“Each plank was about eight inches wide. I could see tenons, proof of ancient construction predating the use of metal nails.
“We walked about 100 metres to another site. I could see broken wood fragments embedded in a glacier, and some 20 metres long.”
If this really is Noah's Ark it would be without doubt the world's major archaeological find.
But an early doubt we had was why didn't the finders get leading creationist organizations onside to verify it? No-one seems to have consulted Answers in Genesis, the Institute for Creation Research, Creation Research Society, Creation Ministries International (CMI), or other major creationist groups. (But see comment below from CMI.)
We said right from the start that Christians must be careful not to jump in too quickly with claims that this is the Ark.
And two archaeologists — Randall Price, director of Judaic Studies at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, and Bob Cornuke of the Bible Archaeology Search and Exploration Institute — were reported in WorldNetDaily as saying it is a fake. Cornuke said, “It's a fraud and it's of the highest caliber according to what I can assess from the evidence and talking to eyewitnesses and people from Turkey.”
Dr. Price said he was the archaeologist on the Chinese expedition in 2008, and he was given photos that were supposedly taken near the Black Sea, showing wood that is now supposed to be on Mount Ararat.
He said Kurdish workers planted large wooden beams on Mount Ararat that were taken from an old structure in the Black Sea area during 2008-09.
He said the hoax was not done by the Chinese Christians who announced the discovery. It was a hoax perpetrated by a Kurdish guide and his partners to extort money from the Chinese evangelical Christians.
Creation Ministries International (CMI) announced on June 11 2010 that they had been studying the claim and had come to the conclusion that “a modern-day hoax is far more probable than any other explanation.”
There have been claims in the past from people who said they have found the Ark, and subsequent investigations have not supported their claims.
One of the biggest claims, and one of the biggest disappointments, was the Ron Wyatt claim to have found Noah's Ark. A thorough follow-up investigation by other creationist groups — especially the detailed investigation by creationist geologist Andrew Snelling — found that Wyatt's claim was wrong. (See our article Is this Noah's Ark?)
Was Noah's Ark real? Definitely!
Is this new claim evidence for Noah's Ark? We can't say for sure, but we're betting that it's not.
See also:
- Latest Noah's Ark 'just wood planted on Ararat'
- Is this Noah's Ark?
- What was the “gopher wood” used to build Noah's Ark?
- How long did it take to build Noah's Ark?
- How big was Noah's Ark? And what's a cubit anyway?
- Noah's Ark, or … what?
- How did dinosaurs fit on Noah's Ark?
- How did animals get from Noah's Ark to isolated places such as Australia?
- Scientists discover wooden structure believed to be Noah's Ark
- Has Noah's Ark been found?
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