CIA Releases New 'Noah's Ark' Documents

Insight Mag ^ | Nov. 13, 2002 | Timothy W. Maier

[Ready2go]

CIA Releases New 'Noah's Ark' Documents Posted Nov. 13, 2002 By Timothy W. Maier

Is it the Ark, or just a piece of rock?

Two years after Insight filed an appeal charging that the CIA withheld documents and imagery concerning the Mount Ararat anomaly in Turkey, the CIA has released two new documents to Insight that indicate the search for "Noah's Ark" reached the level of the White House under former president George H.W. Bush.

The appeal, filed one month after Insight's exclusive story (see "Anomaly or Noah's Ark?"; Nov. 20, 2000), comes on the heels of the CIA's releasing thousands of satellite images, which soon will be available at National Imagery and Mapping Agency Website. It is unclear whether images of Mount Ararat will be included. Insight's exclusive story marked the first time the public was able to see high-resolution photographs of the anomaly, located at 39 degrees 42 minutes north latitude and 44 degrees 16 minutes east longitude. Insight contracted with Space Imaging to maneuver its IKONOS satellite to zoom in on the anomaly. Afterwards, Insight hired a team of scientists and engineers to examine the pictures and to deterimine whether the object in question was man-made or rock. Four of the experts claim it's man-made, two believe it's rock and one says the evidence is inconclusive.

Unfortunately, the release of the additional records does not offer any more proof of what the object might be, but only raises more questions as to why the CIA continues to hold such records as classified.

One of the records released is a 1995 memo from an agent who had a coversation with John Hanford, then a member of Sen. Richard Lugar's (R-Ind.) staff. Hanford apparently recalled a White House meeting under the George H.W. Bush administration in which Robert Gates, then National Security director, showed one of the old images of the Mount Ararat area to various people at the meeting. "Mr. Hanford said that imagery showed something sticking out from the ice and snow — but that it could have been almost anything."

The memo was triggered by a newspaper article that suggested Mount Ararat imagery might be made public under former president Bill Clinton's decision to release historical documents. The CIA agent says in the memo that such imagery "might or might not be included in the declassified materials."

The other record concerned a review the George H.W. Bush administration conducted between 1990 and 1992 concerning Mount Ararat. The record was in response to former CIA director James Woolsey's requesting what it might cost to undertake a more exhaustive review of all the material. At the time, the price was considered too high to do such a search. Woolsey was told it would take an analyst six months to complete such a study. It appears that study never was completed.

Insight still may receive additional records. The CIA has asked other agencies to review specific records for possible release in the near future. In the meantime, Insight is reviewing its options on whether to pursue in federal court images taken by the CIA with its KH-9 remote-sensing satellite in 1973 and its KH-11 satellite in 1976, 1990 and 1992.

Timothy Maier is a writer for Insight. email the author

MORE:

http://www.noahsarksearch.com/

[SteveH]

Yes, but when are they going to release info about the Ark of the Covenant, which rumor has it was stored away in a government warehouse during WWII?

Seriously, looking at shapes in the snow on a mountain is like looking for faces in cloud patterns. You can see anything you want to see if you look around enough and look hard enough (IMHO).

[Dave S]

Perhaps they dont want it release 1) because it is inconclusive and 2) because the nation of Turkey has in the past not been very interested in having treasure hunters or even legit archeologists running around in that area where there are still hostilities between the Turks and Kurd rebels.

Also, Turkey is polulated by moslems who know that they are descendants of Noah. They dont need scientific truth of that. Why do us Westerners seem to feel they need to be able to point to the ark in order to believe?

[Dave S]

Perhaps they dont want it release 1) because it is inconclusive and 2) because the nation of Turkey has in the past not been very interested in having treasure hunters or even legit archeologists running around in that area where there are still hostilities between the Turks and Kurd rebels.

Also, Turkey is polulated by moslems who know that they are descendants of Noah. They dont need scientific truth of that. Why do us Westerners seem to feel they need to be able to point to the ark in order to believe?

[Dave S]

Perhaps they dont want it release 1) because it is inconclusive and 2) because the nation of Turkey has in the past not been very interested in having treasure hunters or even legit archeologists running around in that area where there are still hostilities between the Turks and Kurd rebels.

Also, Turkey is polulated by moslems who know that they are descendants of Noah. They dont need scientific truth of that. Why do us Westerners seem to feel they need to be able to point to the ark in order to believe?

[ZGuy]

Quickbird was scheduled to image the anomaly also. I have not heard anything about it in the last year though. Anyone know if those shots were taken or have been released?

[ET(end tyranny)]

Perhaps they don't NEED it 'to believe', but WANT it to PRESERVE it.

[usurper]

Please, if we know exactly where it is, why waist time looking at sat photos. You send in a team and confirm it. Mount Ararat is not like Everest or K-2 and since the exact location is known the expedition could be done in less than a week.

As for the Kerds, I don't think they would mess with a US expedition right now. We would have to include some Turks for the permissions. Might as well send in the I-Max team as well just for fun.

If anything were there it would have been discovered long ago. Think of the tourist dollars Turkey could rake in.

Lets just push Geraldo out of a helicopter and let him look.

[11B3]

The Ark of the Covenant is stored in Ethiopia. Really. Ethiopia is home to some of the original Christian sects, and has supposedly been the storage place of the Ark since the 1400's. Only two people have been in charge of guarding it since then. (Long life as with the patriarchs.) Source for this: National Geographic

[Investment Biker]

I have a question for those that believe in the literal view of the truth of this story. The ark according to the NIV was 450 feet long by 75 feet wide by 45 feet high having three decks of 15 feet. The square feet area of a deck, 33,750 sq ft. is smaller than a modern football field with the field dimensons being 120 by 360, 43,200sq ft. Now on this ark was not only all the animals of the earth in pair but also Noah and family and provisions to last the more than 250 days until the door is opened. Now the total deck surface of the ark is 33,750 x 3 equals 101,250 square feet. And the total volume is 101,250 times 15 or 1,518,750 cubic feet (56,250 cubic yards). Is it possible to store all the animals and provisions for the time period in this space?

[Focault's Pendulum]

Here is the photo that first located the anomaly. It was taken by a US Air Force mission on June 19,1949

Hete is a photo from space taken by the satellite Ikonos on August 11, 2000.

[Investment Biker]

For further information on my #10 post. There are approximately the following species that had to be on the ark.

251,000 insects
123,000 antrapoda (spiders, mites)
12,000 flatworms
12,000 roundworms
12,000 earthworms
9,000 birds
6,300 reptiles
4,184 amphpia
4,000 mammals

Multiply each by 2 and remember that provisions were also needed. Now just assuming 8,000 mammals that means there is just 12 sq ft (3.5 ft x 3.5 ft) for each mammal and provisions for that mammal. In that space would need to be at least 2 amphia, 3 reptiles, 4 birds, 18 worms, plus insects.

[1riot1ranger]

I have a question for those that believe in the literal view of the truth of this story.... Is it possible to store all the animals and provisions for the time period in this space?

See the excerpt below for one view on this. The link will take you to the source. Christian evidences is a fascinitng study, but I also try to follow the cliche "God said it, I believe it, that settles it!"

The Ark measured 300x50x30 cubits (Genesis 6:15) which is about 140x23x13.5 metres or 459x75x44 feet, so its volume was 43,500 m3 (cubic metres) or 1.54 million cubic feet. To put this in perspective, this is the equivalent volume of 522 standard American railroad stock cars, each of which can hold 240 sheep. If the animals were kept in cages with an average size of 50x50x30 centimetres (20x20x12 inches), that is 75,000 cm3 (cubic centimetres) or 4800 cubic inches, the 16,000 animals would only occupy 1200 m3 (42,000 cubic feet) or 14.4 stock cars. Even if a million insect species had to be on board, it would not be a problem, because they require little space. If each pair was kept in cages of 10 cm (four inches) per side, or 1000 cm3, all the insect species would occupy a total volume of only 1000 m3, or another 12 cars. This would leave room for five trains of 99 cars each for food, Noah’s family and ‘range’ for the animals. However, insects are not included in the meaning of behemah or remes in Genesis 6:19-20, so Noah probably would not have taken them on board as passengers anyway. Tabulating the total volume is fair enough, since this shows that there would be plenty of room on the Ark for the animals with plenty left over for food, range etc. It would be possible to stack cages, with food on top or nearby (to minimize the amount of food carrying the humans had to do), to fill up more of the Ark space, while still allowing plenty of room for gaps for air circulation. We are discussing an emergency situation, not necessarily luxury accommodation. Although there is plenty of room for exercise, skeptics have overstated animals’ needs for exercise anyway. Even if we don’t allow stacking one cage on top of another to save floor space, there would be no problem. Woodmorappe shows from standard recommended floor space requirements for animals that all of them together would have needed less than half the available floor space of the Ark’s three decks. This arrangement allows for the maximum amount of food and water storage on top of the cages close to the animals.

(How did all the animals fit on Noah’s Ark?)

[mhking]

Yes, but when are they going to release info about the Ark of the Covenant, which rumor has it was stored away in a government warehouse during WWII?

[Delbert]

http://www.wyattmuseum.com/images/wpe24.jpg
http://www.wyattmuseum.com/noahs-ark-05.htm
Pretty compelling pictures here...I cant post.....But Turkey has a visitor center set up there...next to the ark. Ron Wyatt site is very interesting.

[1riot1ranger]

IF the link in #13 doesn't work, try this one.

http://answersingenesis.org/home/area/Magazines/docs/cen_v19n2_animals_ark.asp

[far sider]

Most of the insects and other arthropods, as well as many plants, that survived the flood probably floated on gigantic mats of floating vegetation. The animals on the ark would mostly have been vertebrates.

Most animals are known to hibernate or estivate during periods of extreme weather, so many of the creatures may have been very inactive in this time period.

Also Noah likely took smaller immature animals on the ark, that have been easier to care for. There would have been plenty of room for all modern animals and even extinct animals like dinosaurs.

Finally, many animals that are considered different species may have developed from a single pair on the ark. For example, Asian elephants and African elephants are different species, but they may have descended from a single pair of elephants on the ark. This is true for almost all species of vertibrates.

[AppyPappy]

There is no number for the animals on the Ark recorded. You are guessing.