Ron Wyatt's efforts in the Ararat Mountain region of Turkey have produced what may well be the true discovery of Noah's Ark. On this page are photos and narrative of the results of this effort.
1960 photo taken at 10,000 ft. by Turkish aerial photo team
This picture on the left appeared in the September 5, 1960, issue of Life magazine. The boat-shaped object is located in the mountains of Turkey at about the 7,000 foot level approximately 20 miles from summit of Mt. Ararat and but a short distance from Russia.
When viewed in the larger context of the picture below, it is evident this object lies in the center of a mud-flow that occured not long before this photo was shot.
Excerpt from Life magazine...
"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 Wyatt was 27 at the time and soon traveled to the site to see for himself. This began a long odyssey to determine the facts of this possible discovery. Almost immediately, the pieces began to come together.
Over the course of time Wyatt and his team discovered several giant stones identical in design to smaller anchors known as "drogue" anchors. Characteristic of drogue anchors is the large hole at the top: smaller on one side, larger on the other, and even larger in the middle.
This kind of hole was designed to preserve the anchor rope. Tying a knot at the end of a large rope, it is fed through the hole so the knot catches on the small side of the hole. In water, the rope swells filling the center of the hole, thus preventing the rope from being worn in two by the edge of the hole.
click on image to enlarg
The drogue anchor was designed to drag in the water, stabilize a ship and keep it perpenduclar to the approaching waves, not keep it from moving. Smaller, "normal" drogue anchors are sometimes found on the floor of the Mediterranean and other seas as they were common to ancient ships.
Byzantine crosses were found carved on several of the anchors. The original number of crosses appears to have been 8...the number of Noah and his family. This indicates that someone after 300 a.d. recognized these anchorstones as having a connection with Noah's ark and carved the crosses at that time. Click on the image at right to see cross engravings.
to enlarge, click on image
Other Christian symbols are seen on some of the anchors as shown to the left. The enlarged image above reveals numerous crosses carved into the anchor.
In 1978, an earthquake caused the land to fall away from the "Boat-shaped object," exposing as much as 30 feet of the sides. Ron Wyatt returned to the site in August of 1979 and what he saw after the earthquake "looked like a giant shipwreck." Evenly spaced indentations could be seen all the way around the object which "looked like decaying rib timbers."
click image to enlarge
click image to enlarge
Part of the ship was broken in two from the earthquake, allowing samples from deep within to be taken. The object measures 512 feet long, plus another 3 feet that is broken off, making the total length 515 feet.
click to enlarge
What appear to be horizontal deck support timbers occur at regular intervals.
Sub-surface Radar: Sub-surface radar is a device built by GSSI that can chart the presence of objects below the surface. Sub-surface radar scans were performed at the site and revealed a boat-shaped structure beneath the surface. Joe Rosetta, vice-president of Geophysical Survey Systems reviewed those scans and concludes, "This is not a natural object. The reflections are occuring too periodic for it to be a natural type interface...You'd never see anything like this in natural geology....Some human made this structure, whatever it is."
Click to enlarge
What appears to be wood - deck timber - from the ark has a mysterious characteristic.
Testing indicates this object is akin to petrified wood. There is significant iron content as well as carbon. (For details on the testing go to the link to the Wyatt museum site at the bottom of this article.) The peculiar aspect of this wood is that it has no growth rings. Without a reasonable explanation, it cannot be understood to be wood. Understanding what causes growth rings as well as understanding the time frame in which this would have occured, may explain the mystery.
Growth rings in trees are caused by a variation in the water supply to the plant. Annual rings, according to the Wyatt Institute, occur when the temperature drops and the sap in the tree fails to rise. In the spring, the warmth releases the tree from its state of "hybernation" and the sap begins to flow again. Even though there may be water in the ground, when the temperature drops, the tree does not continue its cycle again until spring. Therefore, a ring results when growth is temporarily halted.
In order to understand why the pre-flood wood had no growth rings, we have only to go to the Bible. Genesis 2:5-6 tells us that before the flood, it did not rain; therefore, there were no wet and dry seasons. Growth was at a constant rate and never stopped. "And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground."
In the Larousse Encyclopedia of the Earth, p 369, we see this discription of the Carboniferous Period: "There was...secondary bark and wood, similar to that of modern trees but lacking the spring and winter rings which correspond to seasonal alteration of moisture and dryness. This is further proof that the Carboniferous climate was fairly uniform. "
Visitor's Center
The Turkish Government built a visitor's center at the site and invited Ron Wyatt to its opening in the summer of 1987. Though speculation still persists in some circles of other "arks" elsewhere, the evidence seems almost irrefutable as to the authenticity of this site.
