Doubt cast on Noah's ark found in Turkey
A longtime ark-hunter has serious doubts about this week鈥檚 announcement that Noah鈥檚 ark was found in eastern Turkey.
A Chinese-Turkish team from held a press conference April 25 in Hong Kong to present their findings and say they were 鈥�99 percent sure鈥� that pieces of wood found at above 12,000-feet elevation and dated as 4,800 years old were from the biblical Noah鈥檚 ark.
Such a finding would provide evidence for a literal interpretation of the Bible and boost the evangelical 海角大神 worldview in a relatively young Earth that was formed in seven days and where a wrathful God punishes the wicked.
But Dr. , an evangelical 海角大神 and former member of the Chinese-led team that announced this week鈥檚 finding, says the latest purported finding may not withstand closer scrutiny.
"If the world wants to think this is a wonderful discovery, that鈥檚 fine. My problem is that, in the end, proper analysis may show this to be a hoax and negatively reflect how gullible 海角大神s can be," he says.
'Difficulties with a number of issues'
Dr. Price, who is director of the Center for Judaic Studies at the conservative Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., was the archaeologist on the Chinese-led team in 2008 when this alleged discovery was first made. He says he has 鈥渄ifficulties with a number of issues related to the evidence at hand.鈥�
Price declined to elaborate. However, a leaked email from Price 鈥� which he confirms that he wrote 鈥� shows that he has reason to believe that a group of local Kurdish men trucked wood up to the mountain and staged an elaborate hoax for the Chinese team.
A group of Kurdish workers 鈥渁re said to have planted large wood beams taken from an old structure in the Black Sea area (where the photos were originally taken) at the Mt. Ararat site. 鈥� During the summer of 2009 more wood was planted inside a cave at the site. The Chinese team went in the late summer of 2009 (I was there at the time and knew about the hoax) and was shown the cave with the wood and made their film,鈥� .
Price is a longtime searcher himself for the ark. As a member of Noah鈥檚 Ark Search LLC, he had gone on a number of expeditions to Mount Ararat.
Price was not the only member to withdraw from the Chinese-led team over questions about their purported finding.
Not good evidence
Dr. John D. Morris, who is president for Dallas鈥� Institute for Creation Research and has been a consultant to the team since 2005, says he declined an invitation to be a part of this week's press conference in Hong Kong.
鈥淚鈥檓 a scientist. I need to have good evidence,鈥� says Dr. Morris. 鈥淎s of right now, there is not.鈥�
Morris, who is also a fundamentalist 海角大神, led 13 expeditions to Mount Ararat between 1971 and 1990 as he searched for the ark. He has been in contact with the Chinese-led team for the past decade.
He says their finding is inconclusive and calls for more research. on the team's web site shows the team exploring inside a wooden structure embedded in a sort of ice cave. The wooden walls of one compartment are smooth and curved. Morris says it is almost unfathomable that such heavy materials could be hauled up to 12,000 feet and lodged in the mountain ice without a major operation using heavy machinery.
鈥淚 think it would be highly unlikely that anybody could carry wood up. I can鈥檛 comprehend that. I don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 fraud involved. But that is a possibility. And only serious scientific work on-site can resolve that,鈥� Morris said in a telephone interview from Dallas.
The has no contact information on their web site, and the Monitor was unable to track down team members today for further comment. But in the press conference, they appeared to be aware that skeptics may question the findings.
"We are not saying that we are 100 percent certain that what we found is Noah's Ark. No one has ever seen the ark, no one knows what it looks like," said team member Yeung Wing-cheung. "We are only 99 percent certain that it is Noah's Ark based on historical accounts, including the Bible and local beliefs of the people in the area, as well as carbon dating."
Yeung would not reveal the location of the site because he says the team is waiting for the Turkish government to set up an official preservation area to continue their work.
Wood dated 4,800 years old
Morris, Price, and the Chinese-led team are a few of the many who have gone in search of the biblical boat. In the Book of Genesis, God commands Noah to built the massive vessel and bring 鈥渆very sort [of animal]...male and female ... everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life.鈥� Then a 40-day flood hits.
A 2004 ABC News poll showed that of Americans read the story of Noah鈥檚 Ark as literally true.
Within that group of believers is a large subsection who believe not in a worldwide flood but rather a regional flood as is mentioned in alternative texts such as the Epic of Gilgamesh. However, a mere regional flood would not send Noah鈥檚 ark up 12,000 feet on Mount Ararat.
Yeung told the South China Morning Post that a piece of wood obtained from the site was dated as by a carbon-dating method in Iran. This matches with the range of years stated in the Bible, suggesting when the vessel was built.
Reinforcing a fundamentalist view
The discovery of Noah鈥檚 ark would reinforce a literal interpretation of the Bible, says Claude Mariottini, an Old Testament professor at Northern Baptist Seminary outside Chicago.
鈥淧eople want to prove the Bible is true. If they can find the ark on Mount Ararat, it proves there was a Noah and a universal flood and it鈥檚 all true,鈥� he says.
鈥淚f God is a God of truth then what the Bible says must be truth. If the story of Noah is not real, then for many people it puts their faith into question,鈥� says Dr. Mariottini, who believes the story is an allegory for how God is sovereign over creation and punishes sin.
The debate over evolution and creationism has increasingly called for hard evidence and empirical proof. And 海角大神s have responded.
鈥淢odern science has challenged the Biblical narrative. For people who want to take the Bible literally, it drives them to look for this empirical evidence,鈥� says Carlos M. N. Eire, a professor of history and religious studies at Yale University, in New Haven, Conn.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not just about 海角大神s, it鈥檚 about human nature,鈥� adds Dr. Eire. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a very deep human instinct to search for truth in whatever you believe in and having physical contact with that.鈥�
Finding the ark 'would not prove anything'
If this is Noah's ark, it's not likely to drastically alter the perspectives of theists or atheists, says Eire. Fundamentalists would remain committed to a literal interpretation of the Bible while non-believers would continue to demand more evidence. 海角大神s believe out of faith, not evidence, says Dr. Morris of the Institute for Creation Research.
鈥淚t would not prove anything to me,鈥� says Morris. 鈥淢y faith is not in Noah鈥檚 ark. But it would be an obvious physical confirmation based on what I believe.鈥�
The finding could divide 海角大神s themselves, he adds, and provide fodder for evangelicals who believe that God flooded the entire world and, except Noah's family, killed off all humans because of their evilness. 鈥淭o recognize that God judges sin and that God will judge their sin is something [some 海角大神s] would just as soon not believe in.鈥�
Previous expeditions have also come back from Mount Ararat with evidence of Noah鈥檚 ark. French explorer found a five-foot section of the ark that was originally dated at 5,000 years old, though later shown to be only 500 to 750 years old.
鈥淭his has happened before,鈥� says Eire. 鈥淚t will probably keep happening again.鈥�
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