In a fortuitous and important follow-up to yesterday's story, Randall Price, a Liberty University archaeologist, has devoted his career to finding Noah’s Ark. One would think he’d welcome news of a find… but alas, that’s not to be the case.
Founded in 1971 by the Reverend Jerry Falwell, Liberty University is an independent, fundamentalist Baptist university located in Lynchburg, Virginia. Although LU has science classes, their primary goal for all studies is to “train young Champions for Christ.”
Price is the director of LU’s new Center for Judaic Studies, and has led dozens of expeditions in biblical archeology. He has been to Israel on more than 90 separate occasions over the past 30 years. His expeditions and digs there include the site of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. His trip to this site was his second to Ararat in search of the infamous Ark.
Price released this statement found on several websites:
I was the archaeologist with the Chinese expedition in the summer of 2008 and was given photos of what they now are reporting to be the inside of the Ark. I and my partners invested $100,000 in this expedition (described below) which they have retained, despite their promise and our requests to return it, since it was not used for the expedition. The information given below is my opinion based on what I have seen and heard (from others who claim to have been eyewitnesses or know the exact details).
To make a long story short: this is all reported to be a fake. The photos were reputed to have been taken off site near the Black Sea, but the film footage the Chinese now have was shot on location on Mt. Ararat. In the late summer of 2008 ten Kurdish workers hired by Parasut, the guide used by the Chinese, are 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. In the winter of 2008 a Chinese climber taken by Parasut's men to the site saw the wood, but couldn't get inside because of the severe weather conditions. 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. As I said, I have the photos of the inside of the so-called Ark (that show cobwebs in the corners of rafters - something just not possible in these conditions) and our Kurdish partner in Dogubabyazit (the village at the foot of Mt. Ararat) has all of the facts about the location, the men who planted the wood, and even the truck that transported it.
While we who doubt are completely unsurprised, there are a couple of interesting things going on here. Despite the fact that the Chinese stole Price’s $100,000, he could have jumped on that bandwagon and co-claimed involvement in the find. But he didn’t. He exposed it and one has to hope it was done for the sake of honesty and integrity. I’d like to think so. In which case, I find myself in the rather stunning position of applauding a faculty member of Liberty University.
Image of Randall Price by Kim Raff.
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Comments
The funny thing about this is that the Chinese archaeologists have invited scientists to join them up on the mountain at the site to verify everything. Why would they do that if they know it can be proven as a fake? I will keep my skeptical eye open, but the disappointment would be HUGE if this did turn out to be a fraud.
Being a biblical archaeologist, at least the type that comes out of Liberty University where the curriculum is skewed and the alumni are both wealthy and credulous, is a good living. Randall Price and the others may never find Noah's Ark in the mountains of Asia Minor, but they have discovered one thing... that "thars GOLD in them thar hills!"
This has the makings of an ongoing he said she said routine.
Dr. Price is simply jealous that he and his team were not the first to locate the Ark. Naturally, his great desire to find it has become his great jealousy of others' success. He has even been making his route from news source to news source, citing unidentified sources as he attempts to slander the Turkish-Chinese team, even going so far as to decry it as a probable hoax, imagining a scenario wherein people brought on their backs tons of wooden beams up to the miserably high-altitude discovery site, wedged them into a make-shift "ark," and then falsely reported that they had found the ruins in a secret attempt to get rich quick.
For the sake of Tourism, you would think the Turks would have combed that area already. After all the plundering of national artifacts by Euro-trash Indiana Jones wannabees, and things settled a bit, Turkey started to dig up all sorts of things including 10k year old cities. Excavations in Troy and Ephesis seem to be going well.
I wonder if one possible explanation is that what we are seeing in the cave is a make shift hut from wood left over after the ship was no longer needed. It was mentioned that wood would be scarce after a flood.
Do the photos with the cobwebs match the video taken in the cave?
Is it possible that the cobweb photos were a failed attempt at deception, and are not the same as the video of the cave?
Did the hoaxers find 4,800 year old wood by the Black Sea?
Transport it up to above 4,000 meters, and place it in a cave, and have it freeze over, all in 1 or 2 years?
One luxury that Freedom brings to all people is the right to believe whatever they want, and so no matter how solid or weak the evidence is, people will still be able to believe what they want.
The real question that matters to the individual is 'why do they believe what they believe?', since only they know really why.
So tell me, should I renew my membership in The Flat Earth Society or not?
Ken "Why would they do that if they know it can be proven as a fake?"
Err, because they're scam artists. Having gall and lying comes with the job. Nothing gets proven quickly, there is always doubt. Money will be made off suckers in the meantime.
I think the ark is long gone by now. If God wanted it to be found, it would have been already.
Randall Price was fooled by a letter:
http://www.noahsarksearch.net/eng/
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