Evangelists claim to have found Noah’s ark – 4000m up mountain

April 27, 2010

A group of Chinese and Turkish evangelical explorers said on Monday they
believe they may have found Noah’s Ark – 4000m up a mountain in Turkey.

The team say they recovered wooden specimens from a structure on Mount
Ararat in eastern Turkey that carbon dating proved was 4800 years old,
around the same time the ark is said to have been afloat.

"It’s not 100 per cent that it is Noah’s Ark but we think it is 99.9 per
cent that this is it," said Yeung Wing-cheung, a Hong Kong documentary
filmmaker and member of the 15-strong team from Noah’s Ark Ministries
International.

The group of evangelical archaeologists ruled out an established human
settlement on the grounds that one had never been found above 3500m in the
vicinity, Yeung said.

Local Turkish officials will ask the central government in Ankara to apply
for UNESCO World Heritage status so the site can be protected while a major
archaeological dig is conducted, Yeung added.

The biblical story says God decided to flood the earth after seeing how
corrupt it had become, and told Noah to build an ark and fill it with two of
every animal species.

After the flood waters receded, the Bible says, the ark came to rest on a
mountain. Many believe that Mount Ararat, the highest point in the region,
is where the ark and her inhabitants came aground.

AFP