Section 1 Chapter 3: 30 years of research and counting
The real story of the modern-day search for Noah’s Ark really begins with the inspiration and desire of one man, Ronald Wyatt from Nashville TN. For certain, numerous individuals in the past had made valent and sincere attempts to find the ship, but nearly all were looking on Agri-dagi where tradition had indicated the ship would be. However, this was not what the bible indicated, plus it was bad science, and a lack of due diligence. Just think for a moment, if the ship were to land on that high peak, the flood water would of necessity be higher than the mountain. This could make the flood level over 17,000 feet in height, if Ararat was anywhere close to its current development, that water height would seem to be highly implausible. Then flow dynamics would also become a consideration, as any floating object descending near a mountain peak would tend to move away from the summit, not land on it. Then there is the practical aspect of God allowing the ship to moor, on a dangerous peak, where numerous folks have been killed mostly on the descent. What reality reveals is our Savior’s merciful provision of steering the ship into a safe harbor further up the ridge from its current location. This area as well has been examined with discoveries of ballast material, and a large section of petrified wood, most likely from an extended keel, broken from the ships hull when it was impacted from a pyroclastic blast that knocked it loose, sending it down the hill to its present location.
Ron Wyatt made his first trip to eastern Turkey in 1977, accompanied by his 2 sons, Danny and Ronnie. The boys were teenagers at the time and the area (unlike a visit today), would not be the most hospitable. Near the end of their trip, a group of locals attempted to rob them of their money, and they had to flee their hotel out a second story window. Fortunately, they ran into law enforcement and were escorted to the station, but sadly they lost some of their photo documentation. I’m not going to go through all of that first visit since others have written about their experience, but I do want to mention one of the miracles that occurred as they were getting to the area. This miracle set the course that would guide the research for the following 10 years.
Ron and his sons flew into the city of Istanbul and traveled east by train across the country to the city of Erzurum, a university town. From there he secured a taxi and continued on his journey heading towards Turkey’s most easternly city of Dogubayazit. This trek of the trip would take approximately 4 hours. Today, we have learned to travel to the area more directly than those that blazed the trail decades ago.
Ron’s itinerary would prove to be instrumental in several ways, and actually looking back we see God’s hand at work opening some doors and closing others. Ron’s conviction was indeed that “all things work together for good, to them that love God, to them who are the called, according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28). Ron believed he was on God’s mission. The taxi drive seemed uneventful more the most part, that was until they neared their destination, the city of Dogubayazit. Twenty-minutes out the seemingly reliable taxi stalled and the driver coasted onto the shoulder of the road. The sun was lowering in the west as they neared the city, this unanticipated delay would get them to their destination after dark. Ron and the boys had been praying that God would reveal to them where they could find the boat shaped object that Ron had seen in the 1960 Life Magazine article (Sept. edition). They hadn’t realized that revelation would start so soon. So, with this delay Ron perceived that God was stopping the vehicle where he needed to look. Being so close to the city he could see the cloud covered Mount Ararat, so he knew he was in the area where the boat had been examined 17 years earlier. However, what Ron and the boys were unaware of, was the amazing adventure God had planned for them.
The three of them sprang out of the taxi and realizing the search would need to begin in the morning, began to mark the side of the highway with a pile of rocks. They were ecstatic as they jumped back in the taxi, as the driver somehow managed to get it restarted. To think that God could have answered their prayer so directly was thrilling. They hadn’t traveled more than ½ mile though when the taxi again stalled. With a-bit less enthusiasm this time they exited the vehicle and constructed another pile of marker rocks. The taxi driver was very confused about the situation, he could not speak English, so Ron could not share what seemed like divine intervention. Again, they all jumped back into the taxi and again started down the highway. Well, you guessed it, another couple of miles down the road and for a third time the taxi was drifting onto the shoulder. However, the exit from the taxi this time was with some apprehension, what crept up in the minds of the passengers was; I wonder if it was possible that we just had a bum taxi?
This is the way we think, isn’t it? God does some miraculous thing, and we begin to question it, because we don’t have or understand all the insight. God knew that He was going to direct Ron and the boys to the boat shaped object on this trip, but He thought as long as you’re in the neighbor, I’ll share these other features with you that corroborate the story. They do finally make it into Dogubayazit after three stops and three piles of rock markers, the next day the search begins.
The challenge in this chapter is to pick out all the highlights over the 10 years of Ron’s research, but after this first fascinating exploration to the area Ron knew that God was revealing some incredible historical artifacts. God had directed him not only to the remains of the same ship (built by Noah) but revealed also the location of the remains of the same man (Noah himself). And as we sense the world having become like it was in the days of Noah, this would mandate the same message to be proclaimed to a world speedily headed for destruction.
On this first trip to the area, Ron had only been informed by the remaining members of the 1960 Vandeman expedition, that the boat shaped object was near Mount Ararat, the Turkish military had led the group to the site by horseback as no roads led to the site. It was the third pile of rocks that led Ron to this location as he walked through the mountains. The first rock pile led him to some ancient remains near the town currently called Arzep. It was in this area that non-indigenes items were discovered (petrified wood and drogue stones), plus an ancient house and grave markers with pictograms on them that indicated the remains of the survivors of the flood.
The second pile placed him closer to the town where several large drogue stones had been deposited. Most had a distinctive tether hole at the top, with many having 8 ornate crosses etched on them. Two large crosses and 6 smaller ones, representing the 8 survivors of the storm. Surveys were eventually conducted in the area by Ron and others revealing additional insights all corroborating the story of flood survivors.
The ancient house and grave site area revealed a homestead, with ancient rock fencing buried deep in the soil and corral areas to keep animals. A large altar was at the base of a natural amphitheater landscape that seemed to be used for animal sacrifice. This area was developed prior to the eruptions of Mount Ararat as significant amounts of volcanic pumice are littered across the ground there.
Some of the older local inhabitance tell of antiquity features that no longer exist due to treasure hunters spoiling the area. Remnants of large walls (15 feet in height), that once surrounded a portion of the area, with ceramic tiles telling the story of the flood account. Some villagers had a few of the remaining tiles to show Ron. It seemed clear to Ron that this area was the post-flood home of Noah’s descendants, and where the family grave plot existed. However, most of Ron’s research focused on the remains of the boat approximately 20 kilometers away.
After surveying the area above the current location, it seemed obvious to Ron that the ship had landed higher up the ridge and was pushed down the hill to its current location. The mud flow from arial photos revealed this clearly. It had severe damage to the starboard side (right), as a result of being locked on a rock outcrop near where a bottleneck occurred in the mudflow, future metal detection and SIR (subsurface interface radar), scans would confirm the damage.
Several items were collected from the remains over the 10 years of research Ron conducted with the Turkish authorities. These included: animal hair and other non-identifiable fibers from core-drill samples – Coprolite (fossilized animal dung) – broken antlers – metal plates and rivets – iron rods and portions of brackets – petrified wooden deck timber and 500lb sounding stone (use to monitor water depth). All of these items would be consistent with the construction and purpose of Noah’s boat. In the 1990’s Ron along with some associates conducted a surface excavation, by scraping away the top portion of the matrix it revealed more clearly the distinction between the soil and the harder rib timbers on the port side of the ship up near the bow. Due to ice-wedging that deteriorates the surface matrix each year, this distinction is no longer visible.
Ron’s 10 years of research was followed up and confirmed with an additional 20 years of others taking the lead after his death in 1999. Addition surveys of the area were conducted by a few different organizations, resulting in very similar results. There are others that for obvious reasons would like to call question on all the accumulated evidence that has been revealed. God’s purpose is not to eliminate any question of doubt, but to allow everyone to come to their own conclusions after considering the material. This was Ron’s perspective as well and he went to his rest a faithful servant and one that had spiritually boarded the Ark of safety and his desire was that after viewing the material we would follow suit.