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Friiday, March 10, 2006 Evening Edition

MUCH ABOUT HISTORY
New photo resparks ‘Noah’s Ark mania’
Digital image of ‘Ararat Anomaly’ has researchers taking closer look

Posted: March 10, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Joe Kovacs
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

A new, high-resolution digital image of what has become known as the
“Ararat Anomaly” is reigniting interest in the hunt for Noah’s Ark.

Satellite image of ‘Ararat Anomaly,’ taken by DigitalGlobe’s QuickBird
Satellite in 2003 and now made public for the first time (courtesy:
DigitalGlobe)

The location of the anomaly on the northwest corner of Mt. Ararat in
eastern Turkey has been under investigation from afar by ark hunters
for years, but it has remained unexplored, with the government of
Turkey not granting any scientific expedition permission to explore on
site.

But the detail revealed by the new photo from DigitalGlobe’s QuickBird
satellite has a man at the helm of the probe excited once again.

“I’ve got new found optimism … as far as my continuing push to have
the intelligence community declassify some of the more definitive-type
imagery,” Porcher Taylor, an associate professor in paralegal studies
at the University of Richmond, told Space.com.

For more than three decades, Taylor has been a national security
analyst, and has also served as a senior associate for five years at
the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.

“I’m calling this my satellite archaeology project,” Taylor said.

Space.com reports the project has been combining the photographic
resources of QuickBird with GeoEye’s Ikonos spacecraft, Canada’s
Radarsat 1, as well as declassified aerial and satellite images
snapped by U.S. intelligence agencies.

While it’s quite possible the item of interest could simply be a
natural ridge of rock, snow and ice, Taylor says there’s also a chance
it could be something manmade.

“I had no preconceived notions or agendas when I began this in 1993 as
to what I was looking for,” he said. “I maintain that if it is the
remains of something manmade and potentially nautical, then it’s
potentially something of biblical proportions.”

The anomaly remains ensconced in glacial ice at an altitude of 15,300
feet, and Taylor says the photos suggest its length-to-width ratio is
close to 6:1, as indicated in the Book of Genesis.

The U.S. Air Force took the first photographs of the Mt. Ararat site
in 1949. The images allegedly revealed what seemed to be a structure
covered by ice, but were held for years in a confidential file labeled
“Ararat Anomaly.”

The new image was actually taken in 2003, but has never been revealed
to the public until now.

Arking up the wrong tree?

Meanwhile, there are others who believe Noah’s Ark has already been
found, and tourists can actually visit it on a mountain next to
Ararat.

Some believe this is Noah’s Ark, already found on a mountain
next to Mt. Ararat (courtesy: wyattmuseum.com)

The late Ron Wyatt, whose Tennessee-based foundation, Wyatt
Archaeological Research, purported the ark is located at Dogubayazit,
Turkey, some 12-15 miles from Ararat, noting Genesis states the ark
rested “upon the mountains of Ararat,” not mountain.

Is this a hair from a large cat aboard Noah’s Ark? (photo:
Richard Rives, wyattmuseum.com)

Wyatt’s website is filled with on-location photographs and charts
promoting its case with physical evidence including radar scans of
bulkheads on the alleged vessel, deck timber and iron rivets, large
“drogue” stones which are thought to have acted as types of anchors,
and even some animal hair inside, possibly from a large cat like a
lion or tiger.

A flood of doubt

However, there’s been no shortage of critics from both scientific and
Christian circles who think the Dogubayazit site is erroneous.

Lorence Collins, a retired geology professor from California State
University, Northridge, joined the late David Fasold, a one-time
proponent of the Wyatt site, in writing a scientific summary claiming
the location is “bogus.”

“Evidence from microscopic studies and photo analyses demonstrates
that the supposed Ark near Dogubayazit is a completely natural rock
formation,” said the 1996 paper published in the Journal of Geoscience
Education. “It cannot have been Noah’s Ark nor even a man-made
model. It is understandable why early investigators falsely identified
it.”

The Answers in Genesis website provides an in-depth report attempting
to debunk any validity the Dogubayazit site has, and concludes by
stating:

“[A]s Christians we need to always exercise due care when claims are
made, no matter who makes them, and any claims must always be
subjected to the most rigorous scientific scrutiny. If that had
happened here, and particularly if the scientific surveys conducted by
highly qualified professionals using sophisticated instruments had
been more widely publicized and their results taken note of, then
these claims would never have received the widespread credence that
they have.”

Officials with Wyatt Archaeological Research remain unfazed in the
face of such criticism.

“The site … is actually something that you can look at. Not some
made up story that no one is quite able to reach but something that is
really there,” said president Richard Rives. “It is a ‘boat-shaped
object’ composed of material containing organic carbon, which is what
is found in petrified wood. …

“While there is more research that needs to be done at the site, there
is a substantial amount of evidence that would indicate that the Wyatt
site is not a natural object. …

“Today, everyone wants to tell us how to think. We, at Wyatt
Archaeological Research, do not do that. We just present the evidence
that we have and let each individual make his own decision.”

In both the Old and New Testaments, the Bible speaks of Noah and the
ark, and Jesus Christ and the apostles Paul and Peter all make
reference to Noah’s flood as an actual historical event.

‘Noah’s Ark’ by Pennsylvania artist Edward Hicks, 1846

According to Genesis, Noah was a righteous man who was instructed by
God to construct a large vessel to hold his family and many species of
animals, as a massive deluge was coming to purify the world which had
become corrupt.

Genesis 6:5 states: “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great
in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil continually.”

Noah was told by God to take aboard seven pairs of each of the “clean”
animals – that is to say, those permissible to eat – and two each of
the “unclean” variety. (Gen. 7:2)

Though the Bible says it rained for 40 days and 40 nights, it also
mentions “the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty
days.”

The ark then “rested” upon the mountains of Ararat, but it was still
months before Noah and his family – his wife, his three sons and the
sons’ wives – were able to leave the ark and begin replenishing the
world.

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress