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Guardian, UK
May 2 2004
Scientists to search for Noah's ark on Turkish mountain
Expedition will study 'man-made object' shown by satellite photos
Nick Paton Walsh in Moscow
The CIA calls it the "Ararat anomaly". Mountaineers call it the peak of
the unforgiving range on the Turkish-Armenian border. But some
scientists think it might hold a far greater historical significance as
the great archaeological mirage - the remains of Noah's ark.
Ten explorers and scientists from the US and Turkey will embark on an
expedition on July 15 to scale Mount Ararat, 4,700 metres (15,000ft)
above sea level, to determine what is behind the image that has been
picked up by spy satellites in the past two decades.
New satellite pictures suggest a huge 14-metre-high structure that was
exposed when the heatwave that hit Europe last summer melted the
snowcap that had obscured it for years.
The expedition will be led by Ahmet Ali Arslan, an English professor at
Seljuk University in Turkey. An experienced mountaineer, he has already
scaled Mt Ararat 40 times and grew up around the mountain range.
"The slopes are very, very harsh and dangerous on the northern face -
it is extremely challenging, mentally and physically," said Mr Arslan,
who was once a prime-ministerial aide.
The expedition can only occur with the consent of the Turkish
government, and Mr Arslan will meet the prime minister next week to
discuss the proposed trip. The estimated cost is £500,000 and will be
met by Daniel McGivern, a businessman and Christian activist from
Hawaii.
At a press conference to announce the trip this week he said: "We are
not excavating it. We're going to photograph it and, God willing,
you're all going to see it."
"These new photos unequivocally show a man-made object," he added. "I
am convinced that the excavation of the object and the results of tests
run on any collected samples will prove that it is Noah's ark."
Mr McGivern's Trinity Corporation last year used Quick Bird, the
world's highest resolution satellite, to photograph the anomaly.
He has said he is 98% sure that the object is the ark, because of beams
of wood he said were visible in the images.
The Bible says that the ark, packed with either seven or two of each
creature, male and female, on earth, came to rest on the mountains of
Ararat after the great floods - thought to have occurred in 5,600BC,
when the Mediterranean flooded into the basin where the Black Sea now
sits.
Sceptics have pointed out that Noah would have had to load 460
organisms a second to fill the ark with two of each species in 24 hours
as the Bible suggests.
The object on Mount Ararat was first noticed by the CIA in 1949 from a
spy plane.
Turkish pilots saw it again 10 years later, and the pictures began to
reinforce the myth around the vessel, giving Christians apparent
archeological evidence that part of Genesis could be physically
substantiated.
The region was off limits until 1982 because of Soviet complaints that
explorers were spying. Since then, teams of explorers have tried to
reach the ark, but failed to substantiate what the object is.
Geologists have discovered evidence of a flood in the region known as
Mesopotamia in Sumerian times (6,000 years ago), yet have maintained
that it is not possible for a ship to have made landfall at an altitude
as high as that of Mt Ararat.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
May 2 2004
Scientists to search for Noah's ark on Turkish mountain
Expedition will study 'man-made object' shown by satellite photos
Nick Paton Walsh in Moscow
The CIA calls it the "Ararat anomaly". Mountaineers call it the peak of
the unforgiving range on the Turkish-Armenian border. But some
scientists think it might hold a far greater historical significance as
the great archaeological mirage - the remains of Noah's ark.
Ten explorers and scientists from the US and Turkey will embark on an
expedition on July 15 to scale Mount Ararat, 4,700 metres (15,000ft)
above sea level, to determine what is behind the image that has been
picked up by spy satellites in the past two decades.
New satellite pictures suggest a huge 14-metre-high structure that was
exposed when the heatwave that hit Europe last summer melted the
snowcap that had obscured it for years.
The expedition will be led by Ahmet Ali Arslan, an English professor at
Seljuk University in Turkey. An experienced mountaineer, he has already
scaled Mt Ararat 40 times and grew up around the mountain range.
"The slopes are very, very harsh and dangerous on the northern face -
it is extremely challenging, mentally and physically," said Mr Arslan,
who was once a prime-ministerial aide.
The expedition can only occur with the consent of the Turkish
government, and Mr Arslan will meet the prime minister next week to
discuss the proposed trip. The estimated cost is £500,000 and will be
met by Daniel McGivern, a businessman and Christian activist from
Hawaii.
At a press conference to announce the trip this week he said: "We are
not excavating it. We're going to photograph it and, God willing,
you're all going to see it."
"These new photos unequivocally show a man-made object," he added. "I
am convinced that the excavation of the object and the results of tests
run on any collected samples will prove that it is Noah's ark."
Mr McGivern's Trinity Corporation last year used Quick Bird, the
world's highest resolution satellite, to photograph the anomaly.
He has said he is 98% sure that the object is the ark, because of beams
of wood he said were visible in the images.
The Bible says that the ark, packed with either seven or two of each
creature, male and female, on earth, came to rest on the mountains of
Ararat after the great floods - thought to have occurred in 5,600BC,
when the Mediterranean flooded into the basin where the Black Sea now
sits.
Sceptics have pointed out that Noah would have had to load 460
organisms a second to fill the ark with two of each species in 24 hours
as the Bible suggests.
The object on Mount Ararat was first noticed by the CIA in 1949 from a
spy plane.
Turkish pilots saw it again 10 years later, and the pictures began to
reinforce the myth around the vessel, giving Christians apparent
archeological evidence that part of Genesis could be physically
substantiated.
The region was off limits until 1982 because of Soviet complaints that
explorers were spying. Since then, teams of explorers have tried to
reach the ark, but failed to substantiate what the object is.
Geologists have discovered evidence of a flood in the region known as
Mesopotamia in Sumerian times (6,000 years ago), yet have maintained
that it is not possible for a ship to have made landfall at an altitude
as high as that of Mt Ararat.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress