Flood of claims
for 'Noah's Ark'
Legendary vessel of Genesis story goes from nowhere to everywhere
Posted: July 16, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Joe Kovacs
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
After centuries of scouring the Earth for Noah's Ark, claims are now flooding in that the legendary vessel of the Bible has been found.
 'Noah's Ark' by Pennsylvania artist Edward Hicks, 1846 |
Last month, headlines screamed that a Texas team of archaelogists believed they had possibly located the biblical boat in Iran.
But hang on to the "Hallelujah!" chorus a little longer.
There are numerous claims about the final resting place, from Ararat to Armenia. With modern technology and digital photography being utilized in the hunt, it seems like everyone is finding what they think is Noah's Ark.
The Iran claim
As WorldNetDaily reported June 30, a 14-man crew that included evangelical apologist Josh McDowell says it returned from a trek to a mountain in Iran with possible evidence of the remains of Noah's Ark.
The group, led by explorer Bob Cornuke, found an unusual object perched on a slope 13,120 feet above sea level.
Cornuke, president of the archeological Base Institute and a veteran of nearly 30 expeditions in search of Bible artifacts and locations, said he is cautiously, but enthusiastically, optimistic about the find.
Some of the team's photos can be seen here.
Also on the team were Barry Rand, former CEO of Avis; Boone Powell, former CEO of Baylor Medical Systems; and Arch Bonnema, president of Joshua Financial. The team returned with video footage of a large black formation, about 400 feet long – the approximate length of the ark, according to the Bible – that looks like rock but bears the image of hundreds of massive, wooden, hand-hewn beams.
Bonnema observed: "These beams not only look like petrified wood, they are so impressive that they look like real wood – this is an amazing discovery that may be the oldest shipwreck in recorded history."
The team said one piece of the blackened rock is "cut" at 90-degree angle.
Even more intriguing, they said, some of the wood-like rocks tested this week proved to be petrified wood.
It's noteworthy, they pointed out, that the Bible recounts Noah sealed his ark with pitch, a black substance.
Mount Ararat
Despite the hype, there are those who maintain the vessel is definitely on Mount Ararat, in present-day Turkey.
Among them is Edward Crawford, a former draftsman illustrator for the U.S. military who now teaches Christian theology at Evergreen Bible Presbyterian Church in the Seattle suburb of Pullayup, Wash.
Crawford has made numerous climbs up Ararat, and says in 1990, he discovered a large, rectangular structure buried in the ice at an elevation of 14,765 feet.
"I don't have any doubt about it at all, and the Turks don't either," he told WND.
He says the structure currently sits under snow and ice, which he calls "ridiculously hard stuff," but he expects it will be at its highest point above the frozen water this summer, as forecasts call for an unusual warm-up.
Crawford has put much of his discovery online at a website called Project von Bora, where photographs and diagrams are available, and he alleges the structure has 90-degree angles.
 Edward Crawford believes a rectangular Noah's Ark lies at this location on Mount Ararat (courtesy Edward Crawford) |
"Those don't happen in nature," he said. "If you think someone went up there to build that, it would take a greater miracle than the Flood [of Noah] itself."
Crawford is now urging the Ankara government to formally acknowledge his find, and grant him permission to explore the site again this summer.
"This is not a politically correct discovery," he said. "I never imagined that I would discover the structure and its disposition. I had no idea it would take this long to sort through the Turkish red tape."
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