Forward by Bob Barney
This weekend in the news, the DailyMail, a rag on a good day, has actually got a very in-depth article on where Noah’s ark has possibly rested based on what the Bible states very clearly as, “the mountains of Ararat”. However, they use the disclaimer that so many historians and modern-day Christian’s and pastors use…that you do not need to be that literal about God’s word. Why not is my question! God says what He means and means what He says and that is The Plain Truth. So many people seem to get the potential location of the ark wrong because of this willingness to change God’s Word.
Please visit the site of Wyatt Archeological Research on the topic of Noah’s ark...The Plain Truth believes this is the REAL ARK of Noah’s and you may deem their findings quite interesting and biblically based. Below you can read some of Ron Wyatt’s journey:
NOAH’S ARK- The Early Years
In Sept. 1960, 27 year old Ron Wyatt, along with thousands of other people, read an article in “Life” Magazine about a strange boat-shaped formation in the mountains of Ararat:
“NOAH”S ARK?
Boatlike form is seen near Ararat.
While routinely examining aerial photos of his country, a Turkish army captain suddenly gaped at the picture shown above. There, on a mountain 20 miles south of Mt. Ararat, the biblical landfall of Noah’s Ark, was a boat-shaped form about 500 feet long. The captain passed on the word. Soon an expedition including American scientists set out for the site.
At 7,000 feet, in the midst of crevasses and landslide debris, the explorers found a clear, grassy area shaped like a ship and rimmed with steep, packed-earth sides. Its dimensions are close to those given in Genesis: `The length of the ark shall be 300 cubits, the breadth of it 50 cubits, and the height of it 30 cubits,’ that is, 450x75x45 feet. A quick two-day survey revealed no sign that the object was man made. Yet a scientist in the group says nothing in nature could create such a symmetrical shape. A thorough excavation may be made another year to solve the mystery.”
Ron’s Decision is Made
At that time, Ron determined that one day, he would visit the site and see for himself. But that was a dream he could scarcely realize any time soon. He had a 1 year 4 month old daughter, a 3 month old son, and within a year and a month, he would have another son. Working as a lab technician in the quality control lab at Hercules Powder Plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan, he was also attending Western Michigan University, studying pre-med. But soon, family matters forced him to give up his hopes of becoming a doctor and he moved to Kentucky in 1964 where he entered nursing school. He graduated in 1967, entered Anesthesia School and graduated as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist in 1970.
It was also in 1970 that he found himself raising his 3 young children alone. It didn’t look like there would ever be any opportunity for him to visit the strange boat-shaped site, so he had to limit his archaeological research to libraries and book stores. But he never lost interest- in fact, he studied everything concerning ancient history and archaeology, not just subjects concerning Noah’s Ark. He had found that there was very little information available on the subject of Noah’s Ark, which convinced Ron more than ever that no serious research had ever been undertaken on the subject. Everything he had read was based on folk-lore and unsubstantiated claims, and all claimed sightings were in different locations.
Move to Hawaii
From 1973 to 1975, he and the children lived in Hawaii, where he was able to study volcanoes first hand. This convinced him that if the ark had landed on the volcanic peak called Mt. Ararat, that it would have long ago been destroyed. Despite the fact that there are those who have written elaborate explanations of how the ark could have survived on the volcanic peak, within a few years, the eruption of Mount St. Helens would soon show that NOTHING could survive on a volcanic mountain such as Ararat. If the ark had ever been there, he concluded it would have long ago been destroyed.
“Building Mountains” in a Stream
Moving back to the mainland in 1975, he decided that there was one form of research that he could do- he built a small boat model the same ratio as the ark as stated in the Bible, and then he built various “mountain” configurations in a stream. By floating the model down the stream, he observed the boat’s reaction as it approached the various shaped “mountains”. What he learned was that when the boat approached a simple peak extending out of the water, it simply floated around it, not approaching it or certainly not landing on it. This was the “lateral displacement” of obstructed gas or liquid flow.
He continued this experiment with several shapes with the same result each time. That is, until he built a “crescent-shaped” formation with the crescent facing down-flow. When the boat accelerated around this “crescent-shape” mountain, he saw that it was pulled into the area within the crescent by the “eddy” effect, where it then gently floated within that area. With this bit of information, Ron felt like the ark would have had to have landed on such a location. The laws of hydrodynamics and water action and reaction were the same then and now. If the ark had approached a mountain peak extending out of the water, the water displacement around the mountain would have carried the ark with it.
Hydrodynamics
The study of water as a fluid, with its unique properties, and the study of hydrodynamics (fluid mechanics) and wave causation and motion is a most involved and complicated science. The actions and reactions of water and an object floating on that water cannot possibly be studied in depth here- but some simple rules must be understood. If your ship on the open sea approaches a mountain extending out of the ocean, only one of 2 things can happen. One, the ship will be carried around the mountain with the lateral water displacement. Or, two, the waves can be of such force and direction that they carry the ship right into the side of the mountain, with such force that the ship would break into pieces. But it would NOT come to rest on that steep mountain side. It just wouldn’t happen. And if that mountain peak were directly under the ship and the waters slowly descended, the ship STILL wouldn’t land on the mountain side (such as on Mt. Ararat). The water displacement and movement around the underwater mountain would still cause the ship to be removed from the mass (of the mountain) with the water.
The necessary criterea for a ship to land on a mountainside as sea waters descend would involve a process by which the water displacement would trap the ship within an area, such as an eddy could do. At least, that’s what Ron believed and stil believes.
The Size of the Ark
One of Ron’s favorite subjects of study was the ancient Egyptians as related to the Biblical account. While in Hawaii, he had read everything he could get his hands on in the library. And as he mulled all the information over in his mind, there was one thing that seemed to be obvious to him: He knew that Moses had been the author of the Genesis account and therefore the flood story- and as such, Ron believed that the cubit Moses would have known would have been the Royal Egyptian Cubit, the most universal standard of measurement in the ancient world at that time. There was no “Hebrew cubit” in existence during Moses’ time, and to Ron, the 500 foot measurement given in the “Life” article was even more compelling evidence that the site needed thorough exploration. After all, 300 Royal Egyptian Cubits equals 515 feet, not the 450 feet commonly accepted (and based on the future Hebrew cubit).
1975- “The Ark File”
It had now been 15 years since he had read that article, but his interest never waned- it only grew. And then he read the book, “The Ark File” by Rene Noorbergen who just happened to be a member of that 1960 expedition to the boat-shaped formation. Until this time, Ron had no more information on the boat-shaped object other than what he had read in “Life” Magazine, but now he knew the names of the very men who visited it. So, he contacted all but one of the American members of the expedition and asked them everything they could tell him. When he told them he wanted to visit the site, they all basicly told him he was crazy to do so. They were all adamant that nothing was there- that is, all except one man, Dr. Arthur Brandenburger, who still believed it was a ship.
He asked them how to get to the site- after all, “20 miles south of Mt. Ararat” is a pretty vague location in a region that is all mountains. But, no one could tell him exactly how to get there because they had ridden on horseback for hours to the site, being led by the Turkish military.
1977- to Turkey!
In 1977, for the first time, Ron felt like his children were old enough for him to either leave them alone at home or take them with him to Turkey. For the first time, he had 2 weeks of vacation. And for the first time, he had enough money to go to Turkey. It was now 17 years since he first read about the site. So, he told the children what he was about to do and to his dismay, the boys, Danny who had just turned 17, and Ronny who would be 16 in 2 months, insisted on going, too.
Torn about whether to take them or not, he did the only thing he knew to do- he said a little prayer that if the boys were supposed to go, that they would receive their passports in time, AND, that there would be seats available on the chartered flight to Istanbul from New York. He had been told that he had booked the last seat on the flight and when he called to check on availability, he was again told that none were available. It was now within a week of his departure date. But 2 days later, he received a call from the airline- it seemed that 2 seats had come open at the last minute and did he want them? There was still the matter of the boys getting their passports, a procedure which usually took several weeks. But in 3 days, Danny’s was back. And the next day, Ronny’s arrived. “Yes”, he wanted the seats.
But Where Is It?
On Aug. 9, 1977, they arrived in Istanbul. Things were a lot different then than they are today- they had to take a bus to Ankara, and then a train to Erzurum. This consumed 3 valuable days and they were still not in Dogubeyazit, the little town near the site. In Erzurum, they took a taxi to Dogubeyazit, directing their driver to take them to a hotel there. But Eastern Turkey is no thriving tourist area. It is remote and dangerous. Very few people speak English. How would they ever find the boat-shaped object when they got there? Many people may find Ron’s method of getting information strange, but again he did the only thing he knew to do- he prayed about it. He told the boys to say a prayer that the taxi would stall at the place where they were to begin looking. After all, their taxi driver spoke no English, they didn’t know if anyone in the town would speak English- and even if they did, would anyone know where this boat-shaped object was? It had been 17 years since the expedition had come there- perhaps the townspeople had forgotten all about it.
The Stalled Taxi
So, they all prayed- not some great elaborate prayer, but just short, silent prayers for help. To Ron’s way of thinking, if Noah’s Ark was real, then the rest of the Bible was surely just as reliable, including everything said about prayer. And as they approached the town, the taxi stalled.
Full of excitement at seeing their prayers answered, they all three climbed out of the taxi and piled a great number of rocks on the side of the road while the bewildered driver peered under his hood. When they all got back in the taxi, it started up and they continued on down the road. Soon, it stalled again. With a little bit less enthusiasm, they again piled up rocks on the roadside. Again, the taxi started up when they all got back in. Finally, it stalled again, and thinking that perhaps they had just gotten a defective taxi, they each placed one rock in a pile on the side of the road. This done, they headed to the hotel.
It was late when they arrived and as soon as they checked into the Erzurum Hotel in Dogubeyazit, they all fell asleep, completely exhausted from their long journey. The next morning, they got another taxi and headed back to the third and closest pile of rocks, where they began walking in a perpendicular line from the road.
DAY 1- The Anchor Stones
They soon came to a small village where several very intimidating men approached them, one with a shotgun. Communicating in “sign language”, Ron convinced the men that they were just tourists, and the villagers appointed themselves their tour guides. Walking over miles and miles of rugged terrain, one of the men motioned for Ron to take his photo by a very large standing rock. Only when he looked through the viewfinder did Ron realize that this “rock” was identical to the anchor stones found in the Mediterranean Sea that he had seen in archaeological books. That is except for one thing- this “rock” was many, many times larger! When he examined it more closely, he saw that it had 8 crosses carved on it. When the villagers saw Ron’s interest in this, they showed him several more in the area- all exactly like other ancient anchor stones except many, many, times larger- and all with crosses carved on them (all but one had 8 crosses.)
They were all terribly excited by what they had seen, but the boat-shaped object was no where in sight. As they continued to walk, they showed Ron and the boys a very ancient grave-yard which had strange “monuments” in it which looked like simple representations of a 3 story boat. Were these things connected to Noah’s Ark? Ron believed they were. So, he photographed and filmed everything with his 8mm movie camera (no video cameras back then!) and they decided to head back to the hotel for the night.
DAY 2- The House and Fences
The next morning, they returned to the 2nd pile of rocks and began to walk perpendicular to the road again. This pile wasn’t too far from the first and they soon found themselves looking at the walls of a very, very old stone house whose floor seemed to be set about 4 feet into the ground. The roof was gone and it was apparent that no one had lived here for a great number of years. Radiating out from the house was a very large pattern of stone fences which seemed to go on for miles. These, too, seemed to be covered by several feet of dirt with only their top few feet extending above the earth.
The “Tombstones”
The most interesting feature of this site was what was in the front yard- there were 2 large stones, one setting upright and one lying flat on the ground. Carved on these stones were a most exciting picture: across the top of each was an arc-shape; below this was a curly-cue which looked like an ocean wave, and atop it was a very simple boat-shape; walking away from this boat and wave were 8 people- the first and the largest was a man; next and second largest was a woman; the next 3 were all the same size and all smaller than the largest woman, and they were men; and the last 3 and the smallest, were 3 women. It seemed quite obvious to Ron that these were iconographic representations of the 8 survivors of the flood, all walking away from the ship with a rainbow overhead. But what did it all mean? When he studied these 2 large monuments more closely, he noted that on the one lying on the ground, the largest woman (the one representing Noah’s wife) had her eyes closed and her head tilted downward. On the larger one which was still standing, he saw that BOTH the 1st woman AND the 1st man (Noah) had their eyes closed and heads tilted downward. Since these were in front of the house, he believed they were the actual tombstones of Noah and his wife. The iconography showed that FIRST his wife died, and on her stone, only HER eyes were closed. When Noah died, BOTH of them were represented as dead.
The things Ron and the boys had found these first 2 days were extremely important, Ron felt. While they didn’t prove anything about the boat-shaped object, they were clear indications that a family of 8 people had lived in this precise area at some very remote time in antiquity. The 8-cross design on the anchor stones showed that someone during the Christian era had identified these huge rocks with the ark and its 8 passengers.
The Fences- Evidence of Noah’s “Husbandry”
The ancient house- was it Noah’s? They only had one morning to examine everything pertaining to the house, but the thick walls and the vast pattern of stone fences was pretty compelling evidence. The Bible gives reference to Noah being a “husbandman”: GEN 9:20 And NOAH BEGAN TO BE AN HUSBANDMAN, and he planted a vineyard: 21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. 23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness.
This passage tells that Noah was in a tent, not a house such as Ron had found. But Ron learned that the inhabitants of this region, as in other pastoral societies, still live in tents in the summer and in thick stoned houses in the winter. This seems perfectly consistent with the mention of a vineyard, which would have yielded its fruits in the warmer season
Noah was a “Husbandman”
“Husbandry” is defined as “farming, as of livestock” (Random House Dictionary). After the flood, it makes perfect sense that Noah bred the animals and cared for them until the point in time that their numbers were sufficient enough to eliminate the likelihood of their becoming extinct. With only 2 of each unclean animal, if even one should not survive, that animal would become extinct. And the extremely large pattern of stone fences radiating out from the house, and extending on for a good distance seemed consistent with this type of activity. The depth below the present ground level of the house and fences shows their great antiquity. Over the years, windblown dust and dirt raised the ground level, thus burying or partially burying ancient surface structures.
What Noah Wore
In the previous Scripture, we also included the entire passage which tells about Noah’s getting drunk and having his “nakedness” seen by Ham- we included this because of one tiny point: The pictographs on the “tomb-stones” in front of the house show the men wearing a type of tunic. This is entirely consistent with Noah’s nakedness being seen when he got drunk- if he had had on pants or slacks like men wear today, he would have remained covered, no matter how he “sprawled out” in his drunkenness. But with a tunic (like a dress), this would not be the case.
The Giant Altar and Its Complex
The house is located in an incredibly beautiful plain which runs east/west. To the north and south are mountains. Unlike our country, everything is rock in this region. And especially in this isolated area, except for the village where the anchor stones were located, all that could be seen were rocks, rocks and more rocks.
But when Ron and the boys looked behind the house to the north, they saw a very beautiful mountain ridge- directly behind the house, this ridge had 2 small hills which met and formed a valley in between them on the side of this ridge. And right in the middle of this mountainside valley, Ron saw a VERY large squarish rock which looked as if it had been purposely set in its location. Behind this large rock, the valley formed a natural amphitheater. On the side of this very large rock was a complex of small fenced in areas. If this was really Noah’s house, this certainly looked like a very large altar with room for a large number of people to sit behind it as the sacrifices were made.
GEN 8:20 And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
The altar itself measures 12′ x 12′ x 12′ and it has one step- when we stood upon it, it was obvious that whoever stood upon this altar was quite a bit taller than we are, for the step is about 3 feet high.
The complex of pens adjacent to the altar also indicates that whoever arranged the rocks in this pattern was very, very strong, because today many of the large rocks could not possibly be moved by humans without mechanical assistance. At one point, a very large boulder is balanced upon several upright stones, forming a covered area that a 6 foot tall man can walk under without stooping.