Expedition Will Seek to Find Noah's Ark

AP ^ | 4/27/2004 | HOPE YEN

[a_Turk]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An expedition is being planned for this summer to the upper reaches of Turkey's Mount Ararat where organizers hope to prove an object nestled amid the snow and ice is Noah's Ark.

A joint U.S.-Turkish team of 10 explorers plans to make the arduous trek up Turkey's tallest mountain, at 17,820 feet, from July 15 to August 15, subject to the approval of the Turkish government, said Daniel P. McGivern, president of Shamrock-The Trinity Corporation of Honolulu, Hawaii.

The goal: to enter what they believe to be a mammoth structure some 45 feet high, 75 feet wide and up to 450 feet long that was exposed in part by last summer's heat wave in Europe.

"We are not excavating it. We are not taking any artifacts. We're going to photograph it and, God willing, you're all going to see it," McGivern said.

Explorers have long searched for an ark on the high slopes of Mount Ararat, where the biblical account of the Great Flood places it.

In 1957, Turkish air force pilots spotted a boat-shaped formation in Agri province. The government did not pursue the sighting, however. The entire area, including Mount Ararat, was off limits to foreigners because of Soviet complaints that explorers were U.S. spies.

That ban was lifted in 1982, and since then teams of explorers have visited the area but have been unable to substantiate any claim of an ark.

McGivern and Ahmet Ali Arslan, a Turkish mountain climber who grew up in a town near Mount Ararat, say satellite photos have helped them pinpoint a more exact location. Arslan will be leading the expedition.

The biblical account in the Book of Genesis says that after the great deluge, the ark came to rest on the mountain with Noah's family and a cargo of male and female pairs of every kind of animal.

Geologists say even though there is evidence of a flood in Mesopotamia in Sumerian times, it is not possible for a ship to make landfall at an altitude as high as Mount Ararat.

[a_Turk]

ping

[camle]

when they turn on their live internet feed, I wanna know so I can follow their progress. (I hope they have one)

[billorites]

[holdmuhbeer]

that would be too cool if they actually found the ark.

[Reborn]

This is so cool. But, UGH, I'd not want to be one of 'em that has to climb up that mountain to have a peek, LOL. Good thing they're taking a Turk with 'em as leader of the group! : )

[TXBubba]

It would be cool if they find something. Keep us updated.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

[MJM59]

It is my honest belief that certain religious "artifacts" such as Noah's Ark will never be discovered. Some things have to be accepted purely on the basis of faith.

[farfromhome]

Geologists say even though there is evidence of a flood in Mesopotamia in Sumerian times, it is not possible for a ship to make landfall at an altitude as high as Mount Ararat.

Unless it were an airship...

[In God I trust]

Uh, it's already been found years ago. See Ron Wyatt's "Presentation of Discoveries". Turkey even built a viewing site with restaurant over looking it. The media just doesn't like to report things like this. I believe the find was in the late eighties.

[RonHolzwarth]

There is also the viewpoint that the Torah is NOT to be interpreted literally.

What some Jews believe is that the narratives in the Torah are to instruct us in the ways of G-d, and are not to be understood as actual historical events.

Very much as the parables of Jesus were meant to be instructive, to inform, to make a point, obviously not to be taken as having literally happened.

[JBS]

Oh, puh-leeze. Someone's riding the wave after that exceedingly mediocre "Passion" movie to bilk some gullible Bible-thumpers out of some money. As for whoever said "it's already been found", where do you get your archeological science news? Pat Robertson?

[aristotleman]

Wild goose chase bump.

[sawmill trash]

Geologists say even though there is evidence of a flood in Mesopotamia in Sumerian times, it is not possible for a ship to make landfall at an altitude as high as Mount Ararat.

Unless it were an airship...


...or there was this REALLY BIG flood !

[In God I trust]

I have a video that I purchased off the Internet years ago. The man is a Christian archaeologist and the video shows you the ark and visitors viewing site that Turkey built over looking the ark. If you don't want to believe then you can go to Turkey and see for yourself. Just because you haven't heard about this on "TV" doesn't mean it doesn't exist. There is literally a place built in Turkey over looking the ark. I didn't make this up. The video is called "Presentation of Discoveries" by Ron Wyatt. Find it on the web for yourself.

[jtminton]

I remember when that 'Bat-Boy' picture came out in the tabloids. I was in elementary school. I remember thinking, "If you really had a kid that looked like that, why would you take him to a nice portrait studio and get high quality black and white pictures made?"

Maybe I was too smart for my own good.