A team of Turkish and Chinese researches claimed earlier this week to have found authentic fragments of Noah’s Ark on Mount Ararat in Turkey. The statement left many doubtful.
The search for the legendary boat which, according to the Old Testament, was built by Noah at God’s command to rescue himself, his family and every animal species from the Flood, has been going in since the 4th century A.D. Numerous expeditions to Mount Ararat have been organized and each time some new piece of evidence emerged, suggesting that the mythological boat should indeed be there. In the middle of the 20th century, the Turkish government gave the exact coordinates of what it believed to be Noah’s Ark – an unknown object protruding from snow on the northwestern slope of Mount Ararat 2,200 m from the peak, in a closed military zone on the Turkish-Armenian border.
The latest finds – fragments made of cypress wood presumably 4,800 years old - are reportedly located at a height of 4,000 m. Andrei Polyakov, a prominent Russian historian, gives his view.
No convincing proof has been presented so far. First, it was a Chinese expedition made up of Evangelical Christians and not professionally trained specialists. They say the climb took place in October 2009, but the point is that Mount Ararat is inaccessible to climbers for several months starting from mid-September due to heavy snowfalls. Up there at 4,000-m, everything is covered in snow. As for the radio-carbon dating the expedition claims to have carried out, wood cannot survive for such a long period and remain absolutely untouched, unless deep-frozen. Besides, no photo or video materials have been published.
In 2003, Andrei Polyakov himself climbed Mount Ararat in 2003 in search of Noah’s Ark. And although his expedition found nothing, he is deeply convinced that Noah’s Ark was not an invention.
We have plenty of evidence that Noah’s Ark exists, and Mount Ararat is considered to be the likeliest location. There is a striking resemblance between the Old Testament and the clay tablets of Mesopotamia. A spokesman for the Moscow Patriarchate, priest Georgy Zavershinsky, has said the finds are yet to be confirmed.
At the same time, he said research should go on. “Faith and science are working hand in hand. If the current version is scientifically proven, the church will be only too glad to acquire a new shrine,” Father Georgy told the Voice of Russia.
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