Good news for bibliolaters! At last, there is evidence that the Bible is true - well, actually, it's pretty much the same "evidence," over and over again.
News agencies have been reporting that a Chinese and Turkish team of "evangelical explorers" have discovered the "real" Noah's Ark, the wooden ship recorded in the Bible to have contained two (Gen 6:19) - or is it seven (Gen 7:2)? - of every animal on the entire planet, including whales and kangaroos! (Okay, so the Bible doesn't say exactly that, but the story implies that the world's subsequent many thousand species were reseeded after the flood by the happy animals of the ark.) Along with the announcement came pictures of a "boat" supposedly found at 13,000 feet on Mt. Ararat in Turkey that has allegedly been carbon-dated to around 4,800 years ago.
The reasons for doubting this alleged discovery are many, including the plethora of previous purported "arks" dating back centuries, a fact that immediately causes one to turn a jaundiced eye toward this one as well. There are also various scientific arguments against a global or even local flood and the subsequent dispersion of all human and animal life from Mt. Ararat. Moreover, the Bible itself doesn't really state that the ark landed upon Mt. Ararat per se but only that it rested in the "mountains of Ararat." (Gen 8:4) Nor does it indicate where "Ararat" was at the time, so it may not have been in Turkey. Also, the current structure in question has been pointed out to look quite modern in its appearance, so freshly preserved that it could have been created in the past couple of centuries.
In reality, there are many other possible uses for this structure, if it is even on Mt. Ararat in the first place. Some have suggested an old shepherd's hut, but most people are probably unaware that there are "many monasteries" on Mt. Ararat, of which this "find" could be a part, especially if it turns out not to be at 13,000 feet.
In addition, in other parts of the world we find stone arks or ships on high places, apparently as burial sites in emulation of the practice of sending off deceased royalty on burning boats, or for other reasons.
Furthermore, Noah's Ark is quite evidently based on previous myths from ancient Sumeria, Egypt, Babylon and elsewhere. Indeed, such flood-and-ark myths are found in many parts of the world, as I explain in my article "The Myth of Noah's Ark."
Where's the beef?
The Christian "evangelical explorers" who were looking for the ark obviously assumed a priori that the biblical tale was true, calling themselves "Noah's Ark Ministries International." Hence, they are blatantly biased when they make statements like the following, according to FOXNews, which was quick to promulgate this tale:
The significance of this find is that for the first time in history the discovery of Noah’s Ark is well documented and revealed to the worldwide community...
The discoverers of The Other Noah's Ark(s)™ also believed the same thing; indeed, some also went to elaborate measures to "prove" their "finds" as well. The current would-be discoverers made other such "scientific" declarations as:
There’s a tremendous amount of solid evidence that the structure found on Mount Ararat in Eastern Turkey is the legendary Ark of Noah...
We are also told that "several compartments, some with wooden beams, are said to be inside and could have been used to house animals..." And we are shown a photograph of what is supposed to be one of the "compartments" in which animals were allegedly held, complete with apparently 4,800-year-old straw strewn about!
While the focus right now is on this wooden structure's supposed age, size and features, we will be quite interested if its discoverers find any kind of evidence that there were two/seven of every animal inside this building and that it actually was a boat that could float at any point.
'A boatload of skepticism is in order'
Various scholars and professors are being promoted in the press as fairly gushing over the purported find, while others are, of course, skeptical. The fact any professors and archaeologists are giddy over such a "discovery" is a reflection that academia has completely dropped the ball when it comes to mythology - not realizing that this biblical story is clearly an ancient myth and that any attempts at finding such a structure therefore will undoubtedly prove to be a waste of time and money.
Fortunately, not all scholars and experts are so quick to board the ship, as MSNBC relates:
But researchers who have spent decades studying the region – and fending off past claims of ark discoveries – caution that a boatload of skepticism is in order.
In this regard, one professional scholar did not mince words, as also reported by MSNBC:
Cornell archaeologist Peter Ian Kuniholm, who has focused on Turkey for decades, was even more direct - saying that the reported find is a "crock."
Noted skeptical biologist Dr. P.Z. Myers was equally pointed in his dismissal of the "discovery":
Ho hum. I'm getting lots of mail about this ridiculous story on WND [World Net Daily] and Fox claiming that Noah's Ark has been discovered atop Mt Ararat. No, it hasn't. This is yet another mob of incompetent evangelicals hiking all over a big hill in Turkey and credulously interpreting every rock formation and every chunk of wood as proof that they've found a big boat.
The "science" is further called into question, as, naturally, there is no geological evidence at all that Mt. Ararat was underwater at the time. As MSNBC likewise discussed:
Even if you assume the explorers found what they say they found, linking the discovery to Noah's Ark requires lots of leaps of faith: Is the carbon dating accurate? Cornell's Kuniholm said he would like to know who did the dating, especially considering that previous tests reportedly came up with more recent dates. Is it more plausible that the structure is from a miraculous ark, or from an ancient shelter on the mountainside? Is there any evidence of a catastrophic flood that rose to near the top of Ararat 4,800 years ago?
"We know what's going on with Turkey archaeologically at that time, and there's no major interruption in the culture," Zimansky observed.
"There's not enough H2O in the world to get an ark that high up a mountain," Kuniholm said.
Concerning this structure, ABC News relates that George Washington University professor Eric Cline "suggested it could even be a very old shepherd's hut." Cline also pointed out that the "wood should just have disintegrated" long ago. He further evinced that "it's reasonable that [Noah] would have dismantled his ship to use the wood for shelter" and that "[i]nstead of Noah's Ark, I would be looking for Noah's first house or something like that."
Indeed, how many "large structures" made of wood have survived largely intact for almost 5,000 years? It would seem that this one - if indeed that old - must be Noah's Ark, because it surely has been supernaturally preserved!
Meanwhile, the edge of the wood in some of the images released by NAMI looks as if it had just been hewn not long ago. In this regard, a carpenter on Myers's blog comments:
The wood shown appears to be relatively recently milled and joined. The planks and beams do not exhibit the type of drying and shrinkage that occurs to wood over time, regardless of being in a deep freeze.
The surface of the wood doesn't show the different shrinkage rates of hard and soft grain. Most noticeably the joint lines cannot be millennia old and still be as close as the photos show.
It is further claimed that this structure must be very old because it uses wooden pegs rather than nails in its construction. However, it is possible that its builders didn't have metal nails, and this sort of construction still occurs in many parts of the world. Moreover, the fact that the carbon dating was allegedly done in Iran also does not inspire confidence. China, Turkey and Iran make an interesting combo in any event...
Even enthusiastic bibliolater scholars are unconvinced, as related by FOXNews in a follow-up article:
Dr. John Morris, lead archeologist at the Institute for Creation Research, says "I'm leaning towards that the Chinese people have been deceived."
Morris has led 13 expeditions to Mount Ararat looking for the ark. He knows the area well and says of the recent find, "At best, it is an elaborate deception."
Another Christian scholar, Liberty University archaeologist Dr. Randall Price, a veteran ark hunter, was involved at one point in this particular "discovery" but denies it has anything to do with The Real Noah's Ark™. Said Price:
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 [stet] (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.
So, there we have it. As to the motive of this evident fake clearly eludicated in Price's remarks, Myers concludes:
You can hardly blame the Turks around Ararat. There's a lot of money being poured into the local economy from these numerous creationist expeditions. It only makes sense to salt a few sites with chunks of wood.
It would otherwise be curious why the Chinese would be so interested in proving Middle Eastern myths - the only other way such a thing could occur is because of religious conditioning, plain and simple. Large swatches of people in practically every nation have now been indoctrinated to believe that the megalomaniacal writings of one particular "chosen people" represent "God's Word." To a person educated about the world's various cultures dating back thousands of years, such a view is not only unscientific but also a result of cultural bias.
Meanwhile, this latest ark find is clearly a hoax - as they will all turn out to be, because the story of Noah's Ark is a myth based upon other myths that constitute nature worship and astrotheological knowledge dating back thousands of years.
D.M. Murdock is the author of controversial books and articles on comparative religion and mythology that can be found at Stellar House Publishing and Freethought Nation. For more articles from the Freethought Examiner, be sure to subscribe!
Sources & Further Reading
New Evidence Emerges in the Search for Noah's Ark
Has Noah's Ark Been Found on Turkish Mountaintop?
Finding Noah's Ark
Evangelists claim Noah's Ark found
Flood of claims for 'Noah's Ark'
Noah's Ark found? Not so fast
Randall-Price, noted Ark-Hunter, says latest find is fake
Latest Ark finding is a fake
If Fox News and Wing Nut Daily say it's true, it must be so
The Myth of Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark Hoax Claim Doesn't Deter Believers
Comments
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 discovery site, wedged them into a make-shift "ark," and then false reported that they had found the ruins in a secret attempt to get rich quick.
Wheres the beef and by beef i mean transitional fossils. umm umm theres millions of them but we cant find them.
Mt Ararat was orginally in Armenia....Noahs ark being there would explain why Armenians are the first documented Christians.
"The Christian "evangelical explorers" who were looking for the ark obviously assumed a priori that the biblical tale was true"....ummm...and you obviously are not coming at this with any bias! I have no clue if this is true or not, but please stop the hypocrisy!
why is it so hard to think it is true
Free Thought???? What a joke. What I'd like to know is what's the good doctor so afraid of?
It is not "hypocrisy" to point out someone's agenda, even if one has a point to make oneself. Perhaps you don't know the definition of the word "hypocrisy?"
"a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess."
Where, pray tell, have I made any such pretense here?
Jesus is Lord. Repent and be saved.
"Free Thought???? What a joke. What I'd like to know is what's the good doctor so afraid of?"
Who is the "good doctor?"
You did not even read this article, did you - are you afraid of what it says? Do you know what the definition of "freethought" is? Let me define it for you:
"the liberty to question and doubt unscientific and uncritical beliefs, especially as concerns religion"
The global Flood offers the best explanation for the geographical features we see on earth. Also, the billions of well-preserved fossils had to be buried rapidly in order to be preserved, or the elements and scavengers would have got to them first. And how else do you get coal deposits hundreds of feet thick with clay suitable for pottery at the bottom without a mass deposition of trees by a cataclysmic event?
Some scientists talk of a global flood on Mars, but they won't consider it on earth, despite the evidence, because of the Biblical connotations.
The reason there are flood stories all over the world is obvious. The people took the story of that historical event with them as they repopulated the earth. Even Australian Aboriginal Flood accounts are similar to Genesis.
Whether the real Noah's Ark turns up is irrelevant, as there is plenty of other evidence.
Albert Einstein - "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results"
You fundies expecting something different this time? Keep looking!
Vicki, According to the "good book" was Noah a Christian or a Jew?
For your sake, I hope you were attempting satire.
The explanation of Rael is most plausible; that genetic material was gathered and kept alive in a space ship (the Ark) that hovered over the waters.The Bible did not say it floated on the waters. I find it strange I never hear Dr. M say anything about Rael.org, check it out.
This article says a lot about how every aspect of this discovery is anything but the ark. Seems like they are trying to convince themselves more than anything so maybe they think it is true.
It must be that time again, because some, ahem, "exploration team" is claiming to have discovered Noah's ark. Wow! Noah's ark! What do you suppose they'll discover next. I'm guessing it'll be a unicorn's horn (after all unicorns are in the King James Version so, of course, it just HAS to be true). Maybe next they'll find Adam and Eve's "coats of skins" waiting ever-so-patiently to be dry-cleaned on hangers in some far-off forgotten cave.
Sigh. Some people.
I'm also sorta/kinda wondering how they even know it's 'Noah's' ark. Why can't it be Ziusudra/Atrahasis's ark, since the telling of that remarkably-similar 'myth' pre-dates the Noah 'story' by hundreds of years? Or Utnapishtim ark (also pre-dating the Bible)? Or, better yet, what if it's Ogyges' or Deucalion's or Dardanus' ark? Now it belonging to one of these make's perfect sense. Why? Because Zeus is God! Don't believe me? Look for yourself. It's in the Iliad!
Even when the excivation is complete and its disovered it is a boat and Noah's ark people will choose not to believe the biblical flood story. If you dont believe from the other vast amoutn of evidence that there was a world wide flood then this additional piece of evidence will not convince you either if verified.
I am a bedraggled refugee from the "Holy" Roman Catholic Church, now Atheist. So I had that bible bullshit drummed into me by the Jesuits. I now belong to many Atheists Groups amd other Groups where Christians try to spread they BS. I have have many arguments about Genesis and creation. The trouble is that these people refuse to read a book I highly recommend "The Greatest Show on Earth" by Richard Dawkins about Evloution. Of course I recommend Acharya's books as well.
I wish the News Media would grow up. This story even made the Australian media, print & TV. I e-mailed a TV Network bebunking the whole story. They did not run with that story any more.
I suppose the Turkish Government will use this myth to attract more tourists.
Christopher Hitchens is right "Religion poisons everything.
Jesus is the only way to heaven. All have sinned none can enter a holy heaven except jesus forgive them. After death all men will find out who is right and who is wrong. An athiest has much to loose if he is wrong, I will have nothing to loose if I am wrong and everything to gain believing in jesus. the worst part about hell will not be pain it will be thinking about all of the chances you had to believe and not to have to go there, and no hope for change. Jesus is the way.
Great article, once again proving to what extent these numb skulls will go to try to prove something that does not exist. More than likely, it's for the fame, or possible fortune from this sham!
I find it amazing that of all the things these morons are trying to push off on a credulous public they are still trying to flog this turkey. It's just incredible to me that people in the 21st Century are unable to reason out such an obvious falsity.
The only part of the whole story that makes no sense to me is this: Why would Noah and his family leave the Ark intact the flood was over. If someone was trying to rebuild their economy after a major disaster, would you not dissassemble the Ark and use the precious wood to build new structures more suitable for life on land, make fires for cooking and heating. That the resource that the Ark was, would be abandoned or left intact for sentimental/religious reasons dispite the extreme conditions that would have exsisted after the flood makes no sense. I think Noah and his family would have dismantled the Ark and improved their living conditions to ensure the success of God's plan... saving life on earth... not boats on earth.
Show me Jesus or any evidence of Jesus, bro.
@ Craig Duckett The 'discoverers' are holding back a secret! They will eventually produce a peice of wood with Noah's name engraved on it (Love graffittli) LOL!
You may not have the final word this time. News that the story is a possible hoax is only to be expected. The site was not virgin; everyone knows that. No doubt there have been incursions of timbers and whatnot by the locals over the years. Just because Dr. Price 1) was told that he was delivered photos of a shipwreck on the Black Sea, and 2) believed the story, does not substantiate it. Some cobwebs in sealed compartments where oxygen is scarce may stay intact indefinitely. As for the vessel's timbers themselves, the command was to cover them inside and out with pitch, doubtless itself a preserving material. No hoax just yet.
Before reading about the hoax, I thought it would be funny if what they found was an old arkeologist dwelling, from some prior attempt to find the ark back in, say, the 1200s.
Acharya:
If you plan to move this topic to Truth Be Known or Freethought Nation, where there's more room, let me know, as I have something significant to contribute, but I can't begin to do it in 1000 characters!
pax vobiscum
archaeopteryx
in-His-own-image.com
If the biblical stories are true - that the Earth was created only thousands of years ago and that all animals existed at the same time as Adam and Eve up to Noah, then why did Noah miss saving even one pair of dinosaurs? And if all dinosaurs were killed in the flood and fossils came from the sediments of the flood waters covering those animals that died, then where are the fossil remains of the humans that died then as well? Scientific evidence indicates that all creation stories are fiction due to the fact that the evidence conflicts completely with creation stories. The complete lack of evidence to support claims that the biblical stories actually happened as stated, continues to make those stories unbelievable by rational scientific standards.
Maxwell Jennings
I for one, have thoroughly enjoyed Ms. Murdock sharing her research. It is refreshing to review the history of religions objectively. Having been raised by a Primitive Baptist Minister, I have personally experienced the grief that is caused by shame based, ridiculous belief systems. I think our society has developed poorly due to religion. It seems no one wants to take personal responsibility for their lives. People wait for divine intervention to save them and punish those who do not conform. I believe this has been reflected in the governments we blindly support. Everyone wants the government to take care of them from cradle to grave, assuming the governance is good and has our best interests in mind. It just requires faith; like a church requires. Let them control your assets, with fiat money and taxes,(or tithe) and you will be blessed far more. Fact of the matter is that they are all a bunch of psychopathic control freaks. Somebody needs to call "bullshit" on these clowns
Such a Gilgamess!
Amazing!!! People really believe in this nonsense!!!! There is not a shred of evidence to support the followng: a. The creation story of Genesis; b.The existence of Abraham; c. The captivity of the Jews in Egypt; d. The Exodus. These are the foundational myths of Judaism adopted by the Pagan/Jewish mishmash called Christianity. Equally mythological are all of the stories about Jesus from the "Annunciation" (there are two different and incompatible versions - one in Matthew and one in Luke). The Bible is a work of non-historical fiction from the first book to the last.
I like the part of the bible where Christ talks about what will happen to people who hurt children. I would love to see that justice meted out NOW to the catholic scum who hurt children, or the scum who shielded them from discovery or prosecution.
The potential discovery of the ark is a red herring, proverbial strawman. The real discovery here is the resulting cultural and sociological reactions. We see first-hand now the inherent fallacy athiests and materialists share with their creationst brethren - they are ever bit as dogmatic and smug in their convictions.
Besides PZ Myers, who exactly are the "athiests" [sic] here who are "smug in their convictions?" He is one person, not a slew of "athiests." The others in this article are either Christian or unknown.
I do not label myself either "atheist" or "theist," and my conclusions are based on facts and logic, not "smugness in conviction."
I always believe what MSNBC tells me!!!
I got edujamacted (brainwahsed) at an American University,
I live at home with my Mom, I vote Demoblican, or was it
Republikrat? Either way, we're really hammering Pakistan/Afghan.
now! Its good when one team does something and REALLY BAD when the other team does it. Whats all thia bout Hegelian Dialectic.
I don't know nuthin'. Im n Amerikan.
No prof of a global flood!!!!!! Look at places like the Grand Canyon and the Badlands just to name a few. You would really have to be sticking your head in the sand not to see the prof all around us in the world. The Bible states that in the end times man will be mislead by their own vain imaginations. So many are denying the obvious just because they cannot stand to think of a power higher than themselves. Believe it or not, that basic truth will one day become a reality to all!!!!!
Ark of Noach already found in 80's by Ron Whyatt and team. Google is your friend..
Acharya:
If you plan to move this topic to Truth Be Known or Freethought Nation, where there's more room, let me know, as I have something significant to contribute, but I can't begin to do it in 1000 characters!
pax vobiscum
archaeopteryx
in-His-own-image.com
I think there is a good chance this could be real. well from a scientific point of view i think there is a good chance this could be real. People thousands of years ago saved records that we call mythical they saw in real time. Ask me for evidence ? Look around . There are books , myths, objects never seen by most men that would prove this flood story. Sea cells have been found on top of 9 000 foot Mountians . How did they get there unless the ocean was once ? we can debunk stuff all we want but unless there is some hard facts to prove the stories and myths are not real its best people did not say they are not real . It just makes the stories look more real saying there not real and having no dam proof .
Acharya, why do all your articles end up sounding the same? Once, just once, could you grace us with creativity? Intelligence? Just once.
Mt Judy is where the Koran says it is. Mt Judy has a petrified ship-object of almost the exact size of the Ark. & the valley is filled with huge anchor stones with nice big holes in them. The pics are easy to find and Turkish government protects them. They even have a center set up. PS, Mt Ararat is to young and was small back then. Mt Judy was the large Mt in Noah's time. How people get this mixed up is beyond me.
While I am not a Christian nor belong to their religion the one they call Jesus appeared to me in the sky when I was a boy of 10 with a book in his hand. I always have fun with people of European heritage living on their stolen Indian land in their America they worship when they tell me about Jesus because they don't know I already know him and I don't worship them, their world, or their America.
Always fun when people of European heritage try to get me to worship them and their con job sales world, and their America. What a vain, arrogant, & obnoxious people upon the earth with all their Snake politicians, religious leaders, business people, and educators.
Now all they do is weep, wail, & gnash their teeth about the problems of their Nation or the destruction of the earth all over the Net. The Snake World our Native Prophets foretold they would build in our land long before Columbus ever sailed.
Acharya is a self proclaimed scholar. She got her degree from the internet.
Hey Acharya! Where'd all these f-tards come from? They think making personal insults and ridicule will make their idiotic fairytales real! "Professor" Dan - where's the proof there was one gigantic global flood? Do you even know the first thing about geology? Dese biblethumpas like Frank is schtooooopit.
Keep the BS alarms ringing Ms. Murdock.
I would recommend everyone who thinks they need religion to read
might is right by Ragner Redbeard
"Acharya, why do all your articles end up sounding the same? Once, just once, could you grace us with creativity? Intelligence? Just once. "
So, what you're saying is that you can't understand Acharya's writing because it's over your head? Or that you didn't actually read it? She's more intelligent than you'll ever be, fool. You actually believe in Noah's ark?!
Pardon my skepticism, but they've been "finding" Noah's Ark every ten years or so since the '50's.
Will the real Noah's Ark please step forward ......
"NOAHIC FLOOD" or THE DELUGE WAS IT UNIVERSAL OR LOCAL?
Now North of the Plateau of Tibet and at the much lower level of about 3,000 feet lies the Tarim Basin. It is hemmed in by great mountain ranges: the Tien Shan (“Celestial Mountains”) on the north, the Pamirs on the west, and the Kunlun Mountains on the south. From these heights glacier-fed streams descend, only to lose themselves in the loose sands and gravels of the Takla Makan Desert, which occupies the centre of the basin. The Takla Makan is one of the most barren of the world's deserts; only a few of the largest rivers, such as the Tarim and Ho-t'ien (Khotan), cross the desert, but even their flow is not constant, and they have water throughout their entire courses only during the flood period. The area of the basin is about 215,000 square miles, and its elevations are from 2,500 to 4,600 feet above sea level. Its surface slants to the southeast, where the Lop Nor (a salt-encrusted lake bed) is situated.
Location of th
They are so desperate to make myth their reality. So freakin sad. What is worse, the one comment making the remark that sea life is found on the mountains. Get this, "there fore the oceans were covering them." as the Earths plates still collide and raise mountains from the seas, somehow, I don't know exactly how, making it look like the sea was soooo deep to those buried in the bibble. Yes Bibble. (think of a one yr olds rag)
For those not up to date, the big three abrahamic frauds of faith are 100% bunk. The jew, christian and muslum are equally stupid frauds.
Could have Noah's "Ark" actually been a wooden temple with compartments to house animals used for sacrafice? That would explain the skylight to the heavens and why....psssttt it might have burnt down.
I mean, we are to believe the holocaust "theory"...uhmmmm truth wasn't caused by fire, but invisible gas. Maybe the Noah's Ark tale needs similar liberal interpretation. Oh well I guess it'll make for a nice holiday for the "researchers....:-)
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