John D. Morris
[John Morris, Field Research Scientist for the Institute for Creation Research, received his B.S. degree in civil engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1968. He is author of Adventure on Ararat and lectures extensively throughout the country on the progress and implications of the search for Noah’s Ark.]
Much research has been done in the past 30 years to determine whether the Ark still exists, high up in a stationary ice pack on Mount Ararat in Turkey. It seems unlikely that on a volcanic mountain, in an earthquake-prone region, surrounded by a moving glacier, that any portion of the vessel could have survived for 5,000 or so years. But the evidence suggests that it has. Listed below are a number of the more significant accounts of its presence. Though no one of these is conclusive in itself, the large number of them is significant.
(1) Ancient historians such as Josephus, of the Jews, and Berosus, the Greek historian who wrote about the Babylonians, mention in their writings that the Ark was still in existence at the time of their writing.
(2) Medieval historians and travelers, such as Marco Polo, likewise point out that, according to the Armenians, the Ark was still at that time preserved in the mountain where it had grounded.
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(3) The early 19th century was a time of conflict between those who believed that the earth developed in a uniform manner and those who believed that it developed by means of catastrophic events. Much of the Opposition to the growing evolutionary sentiment was based on the history of the great Flood. In about 1856, a team of three skeptical scientists journeyed to Ararat for the specific purpose of demonstrating once and for all there was no Ark there: however, their Armenian guides led them up the mountain directly to the Ark. In their anger, they threatened death to the guides if they ever told anyone about it.
Many years later, one of the guides, by then known as Jeremiah the Pilgrim, related the story to friends in America shortly before he died. At about the same time, one of the atheistic scientists also told the story in a deathbed confession, which was reported in many of the newspapers at the time, but soon forgotten.
(4) Sir James Bryce, a noted British scholar and traveler of the mid-nineteenth century, conducted extensive library research on Ararat and was convinced the Ark was preserved there. Finally, he himself ascended to the summit of the mountain in 1876 and found, at the 13,000 foot level, a large piece of hand-tooled wood, which he believed was from the Ark.
(5) In 1883, according to a series of newspaper articles, a team of Turkish commissioners, while investigating avalanche conditions on Mount Ararat, unexpectedly came upon the Ark projecting out of the melting ice at the end of an unusually warm summer. They were actually able to enter a portion of the Ark, but the press reports only maintained an attitude of scoffing at the account.
(6) One of the most widely-circulated Ark stories was that of its discovery by a Russian aviator flying over the mountain in 1915, during World War I. The news of his discovery reached the Czar, who dispatched a large expedition to the site. The soldiers were actually able to locate and explore the boat, but before they could report back to the Capital, the Russian revolution of 1917 had taken place. The documents disappeared, and the soldiers were scattered. Some of them eventually reached America, where various relatives and friends have confirmed that they had told of seeing the Ark.
(7) Twenty years or so later, a New Zealand archaeologist, Hardwicke Knight, attempted to reach Ahora, on the north side of the mountain, by circling around from the south, near the snow line on the mountain. In the process, he came across what appeared to be
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a framework of heavy timbers, just exposed above the melting ice field. He did not realize until much later that these timbers could well have been a displaced portion of the structure of Noah’s Ark.
(8) During World War II, there appear to have been several aerial sightings of the Ark. One of these was reported in 1943 in the U.S. Army paper Stars and Stripes, in a Tunisia theatre edition. Although many ex-servicemen have confirmed seeing this story, it has so far been impossible to locate the exact paper to ascertain the names of the flyers.
(9) Also during World War II, a group of Russian flyers on at least two occasions took photographs from the air which showed the Ark protruding out of the ice. These were reproduced in a Russian wire-photo that appeared in various American papers.
(10) An oil geologist, George Greene, in 1953 took a number of photographs of the Ark from a helicopter. After returning to the United States, Greene showed his photographs to many people, but was unable to raise financial backing for a ground-based expedition. Finally, he left for South America, where he died. Although no one knows where the pictures are now, many people testify that they saw them, and that they clearly show the Ark protruding from the melting ice-field on the edge of a precipice.
(11) A French contractor, Fernand Navarra, acting on information from Armenian friends, ascended Mount Ararat in 1952 in search of the Ark, and again in 1953 and 1955. Finally he found, deep in a crevasse in a large ice-field, a large wooden timber, apparently hand-tooled. Deeper in the ice, both from the crevasse and from the field above, he saw a dark mass which he is convinced constitutes the remains of the lower portion of the structure of Noah’s Ark. In 1969, SEARCH INC., guided by Navarra, returned to the same site and found additional pieces of wood. The wood apparently is several thousand years old (though the radio-carbon dates were somewhat contradictory), extremely hard, and impregnated with some sort of resinous material.
(12) Numerous expeditions have been conducted in the past 25 years, especially by the Archaeological Research Foundation and its successor organization, SEARCH, as well as by Eryl Cummings and by John Libi. Various others have tried also, and a great number of still other groups have applied unsuccessfully for governmental permission to search the mountain.
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The Institute for Creation Research has actively engaged in this search for the past three years. In October of 1971, the writer, who was appointed leader of the project, was sent to Turkey to gain a working knowledge of the mountain.
In July and August of 1972, ICR sponsored its first Ararat probe. A team of five men was chosen and, after extensive training on Mount Hood in Oregon, they entered Turkey as tourists, interested primarily in climbing the mountain and exploring the areas under consideration as tourists. They were granted permission to do so by local Turkish authorities.
This group of men overcame periods of extreme frustration, hardship, and danger. They narrowly avoided avalanches, were attacked by half-wild packs of dogs, were shot at and robbed by bandits, and even were struck by lightning. However, in the end, they were able to claim perhaps the most successful expedition to date. Even though they did not accomplish their primary objective, many areas of the mountain were thoroughly searched out for the first time, as well as nearby ancient archaeological sites. For the first time, extensive photographic work was done and beautiful pictures of the upper reaches of the mountain became available in abundance.
Cooperating Turkish officials assured the ICR team that permits would again be issued in the summer of 1973, so plans were made to return. Preparations were made to take a larger, better-financed, better-equipped group to Mount Ararat, capable not only of locating the Ark itself, but also of thoroughly documenting it. Professional photographers, a medical doctor, and various explorers and mountaineers were chosen for the job (a total of eight men, each a dedicated Christian), while equipment and data were gathered to produce a 16-mm documentary film on the discovery of the Ark, as well as the exploration of other ancient sites in Eastern Turkey.
If the Ark exists, the reason it has not been discovered to date lies in the fact that Mount Ararat, located on Turkey’s eastern frontier, is covered by a perennial ice cap, from its 17,000 foot peak to approximately the 14,000 foot level. Only in a period of extreme glacial ablation would a portion of the Ark protrude from its resting place in a stationary ice pack. (Records show that such a thaw occurs about every 20 years.)
The summer of 1973 saw the culmination of several months of extreme heat and drought. It saw the glacier on Mount Ararat recede back as far as it ever had in anyone’s memory. Unfortunately, it also
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saw shortages of food and clean water for the inhabitants of the Middle East and many people dying from outbreaks of diseases.
Meanwhile, Turkey was undergoing a period of political unrest. Several months of bitter parliamentary fighting had divided the country’s leadership until April 26, when an overwhelming vote of confidence was given to the new coalition government formed by President Koruturk and Prime Minister Talu. Plans were made to gradually lift the martial law which controlled the country.
By the time our ICR advance team reached Turkey in July (July and August are the optimum months for searching for the Ark), only a few areas were still under martial law, and those were quite peaceful. However, two potential problems loomed ahead. In October, almost every elected official in Turkey was up for re-election, and on October 29, Turkey planned to celebrate its 50th anniversary. All things considered, it was not a good year for a group of foreigners with sophisticated equipment to explore one of Turkey’s most sensitive zones. (Mount Ararat overlooks both the Russian and Iranian borders.)
Although a number of sympathetic officials in the Turkish government actively attempted to acquire permission for the ICR team to explore Ararat, they were unable to do so on such short notice. When the decision was reached forbidding the issuing of permits, these officials promised more effective support of the ICR efforts in the future. The team left Turkey with not only a deep love and burden for the Turkish people and a sincere respect for its government but also a sense of accomplishment, even elation over the prospects for future work.
The archaeological sites investigated are on or near Mount Ararat. One, a hand-carved cave with its entrance in a vertical rock cliff, is a few miles from the base of Ararat. It was discovered some years ago but has never been excavated. Professional archaeologists have determined the partial relief carving of two priests and an animal outside the entrance to be pre-Hittite in origin (prior to ca. 1700 B.C.). The ICR team reached and entered it, discovering an underground passageway that leads to a water cistern and what appears to be a tomb area. Behind it a tunnel shored up by huge stone blocks runs for some 40 feet until rubble prevents further advance. Since no excavation permits were obtained, the cave and tunnel remained unexcavated.
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Pre-Hittite Cave at the foot of Mt Ararat. Reliefs of priests are on either side of the entrance and a sacrificial animal is above.
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Another site, located at about 7,000 feet elevation on the slopes of Ararat, also demands attention. An ancient stone altar on top of a conical-shaped hill is surrounded by tombstones with crosses (tentatively diagnosed as of Sumerian origin, 3300-1720 B.C.), a large rock with cuneiform writing (as yet untranslated), and many other structures whose uses have not been determined.
The Institute for Creation Research plans to continue this project. Tentative arrangements have been made to return to Turkey in July and August of 1974. This time an even larger team of professionals will try to establish once and for all whether or not the remains of Noah’s Ark do indeed exist on Mount Ararat. The chance of success is enhanced by the fact that the glacier recession in 1974 has even exceeded that of 1973.