A Christian activist involved in a project investigating whether Turkey’s Durupınar Formation contains remains of Noah’s Ark said finding the vessel would, in her view, be a “direct challenge of evolution.” U.S.-based group Noah’s Ark Scans is working with others, including Bakhtar Research and Engineering, to investigate whether the approximately 515-foot-long, boat-shaped formation contains remains of the biblical vessel. The team says it is testing core samples for evidence of wood. It has not established that the formation contains a vessel.
Fundraising director at Noah’s Ark Scans, Lauren Witzke, has said the project is about more than finding the ship, but about challenging the theory of evolution. Referring to the biblical story of Noah’s Ark, in which God gives humanity a chance to begin again after a devastating flood, Witzke said, “Noah’s Ark dismantles the idea that we are all just a product of evolving species over millions of years, and instead shows that we were a beloved creation, preserved and given a second chance less than 5,000 years ago.” She went on to say that the team would will go after schools and educators that focused curricula on evolution if the team proves Noah’s Ark is inside the Durupınar Formation. The comments come as Noah’s Ark Scans founder Andrew Jones said he believes he has already found evidence of the boat in Turkey, including the same dimensions described in the Bible's Book of Genesis.
He cites a preliminary report by Khosrow Bakhtar, of Bakhtar Research and Engineering, which interprets radar data as indicating a human-made structure beneath the surface. The team's preliminary report has not yet been peer-reviewed. Bakhtar said processed imagery shows what he described as “organized patterns, corridors, chambers, and hallways lying inside the 515-foot boat-shaped Formation in the Mountains of Ararat.” “Whatever the object is beneath the surface is extraordinary,” he said.
What I can say from the radar is that it is organized, it is structural, and a solid geological mass would not have returned such a strong signature.” “If it was from geologic origin, we would have not seen it at all since we masked the subsurface geologic features” he continued. Jones cited these findings in a Fox News interview this weekend, arguing that “organized patterns” could be parts of the Ark or a deck. "No bedrock or solid limestone has so far been identified in the holes drilled inside the formation," Jones said previously.
"These current findings challenge claims that this is simply a natural shape made of limestone or bedrock." They have not identified any wood material either, Jones told Newsweek, as the team waits for lab-testing results. Newsweek has not reviewed the scans and cannot independently verify the team’s interpretation Two researchers tried to answer this question in 1996, when geologist Lorence Gene Collins and Ark researcher David Franklin Fasold looked into “evidence from microscopic studies and photo analyses” and concluded, “It is a completely natural rock formation” and “cannot have been Noah's Ark nor even a man-made model.” The researcher behind the 1996 study originally thought the Durupınar Formation could be the site of Noah’s Ark. The current team looking into the formation say they are using techniques that were not available to researchers in 1996.
It says it is using ground-penetrating radar, electrical resistivity tomography, lidar and core sampling. Earlier investigators also used radar and core drilling at the site. Cores are being taken from depths of up to 18 meters (59 feet), Noah’s Ark Scans said in its announcement.
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