On a jutting, ship-shaped outcrop called the Durupinar Formation, on a windswept slope in the Ararat Mountains in eastern Turkey, a team of deeply committed archaeologists, scientists and Ark hunters from around the world have been hard at it.
Carrying out light technology surface mapping (LiDar), drone imaging and thermal mapping.
asserted
team → call → mapping
But finally, nearly 80 years after the rock formation was revealed ten miles from the border with Iran – after an earthquake and terrible storms in 1948 – it might all have paid off.
uncertain
it → reveal → 1948
Because this week, members of Noah’s Ark Scans, the US-based team running the site, have been bursting with the very big news that they may, finally, have confirmation that this is the resting place of Noah’s Ark – nearly 4,300 years after the biblical floodwaters receded, the enormous wooden vessel came to rest near Mt Ararat and 6,744 animals and eight humans disembarked, blinking in the sunshine and rainbows, ready to save humanity.
uncertain
animals → base → humanity
Yes, you read that correctly: Noah’s Ark.
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you → read → that
But we are now 100 per cent certain we have a vessel, a gigantic ship on the mountain and it’s going to be world-shaping,’ says Lauren Witzke, a former Senate candidate, Christian activist and now marketing and fundraising director for Noah’s Ark Scans.
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Witzke → have → Scans
A large, boat-shaped geological formation located about 18 miles south of Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey
A team of deeply committed archaeologists, scientists and Ark hunters from around the world have been hard at it
‘
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team → shape → it
It’s not rock, it’s a ship.
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it → ’ → ?
Gosh, so it really did exist – with all the animals, two by two?
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it → exist → two
‘Yes, of course!’ she exclaims.
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she → exclaim → course
‘We’ve got evidence of a man-made structure.
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We → get → structure
We’ve got the measurements, data, the three tiers, everything as it was described in the Bible.
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it → get → Bible
We’ve got everything stacking up.
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everything → get → ?
‘This is life-changing.
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This → change → ?
This is it – the sign we’ve been waiting for – tangible proof of Noah’s Ark.
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we → wait → Ark.
We all came from those eight people on that boat.
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We → come → boat
If Lauren is so excited that she can’t stop talking, it’s little wonder.
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it → stop → ?
She’s a creationist – someone who believes the universe, Earth, and all living things were created by a divine power, as described in Genesis, rather than coming into existence through Darwin’s theory of evolution and the Big Bang.
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universe → ’ → evolution
‘It’s proof we didn’t evolve over millions and millions of years, so we can completely dismantle all that,’ she says.
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she → ’ → that
‘They’ll have to rewrite textbooks, re-educate professors at universities and unravel all that Darwinism and deceit in our education system.
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They → have → system
‘This is going to be very hard for modern science to explain away, and I am very curious to see what they come up with.’
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they → go → what
Not surprisingly, she and the rest of the team are desperate to share the news and point out the many parallels and coincidences between the findings at this site and the biblical Ark.
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she → share → site
For starters, the site is just 18 miles from Mount Ararat – the Bible states the ship came to rest ‘on the mountains of Ararat’.
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ship → state → Ararat
But also the dimensions, which mirror the oddly specific Ark construction instructions which God gave to Noah just before he flooded the Earth to rid it of corruption, violence and most life.
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he → mirror → corruption
According to the Bible, the Ark, made of cypress and covered with pitch, was to be ‘300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high’, roughly 515ft long, 86ft wide and 52ft tall – tall enough for three extra high internal decks – lower, second and third floors’, with ‘a door set in the side and an opening running near the top, finished to within one cubit of the roof’.
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Ark → accord → roof
The team here say that, using modern technology, they have evidence of a structure 515 to 538ft long, 85ft wide, and 52ft high, in a wide tapering boat shape.
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they → say → shape
While the research is yet to be confirmed, preliminary findings point to a three-level structure with a central corridor of about 234ft long, a parallel passage, and crossing corridors that meet at right angles – indicating the layout of designed hallways.
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that → confirm → hallways
On top of all that, analysis shows significant differences in the soil within the boat shape and outside it – the former containing three times more organic matter, 38 per cent more potassium and an eight-fold difference in pH levels.
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former → show → levels
Project founder Andrew Jones said this week they had recovered samples from nearly 60ft down.
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they → say → samples
‘We have so far recovered layers of rich organic material that we believe could be the decayed top-tier remains of the Ark,’ he said.
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he → recover → Ark
‘It’s a boat, a bloody great boat sitting in the mountains!’ cries Lauren.
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Lauren → ’ → mountains
The Durupinar Formation was first spotted by a shepherd in 1948, after huge storms and an earthquake altered the topography.
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storms → spot → topography
It was named ten years later after the Turkish army officer who officially mapped it.
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who → name → it
Ever since, it has been the focus of frenzied investigating and theorising, particularly among creationists such as Lauren and Andrew, who believe God caused the earthquake in 1948 to throw up the Ark and quieten the huge surge of Darwinism taking over the Western World.
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God → believe → World
From geologists who have insisted that the formation was always one mass of solid rock.
asserted
formation → insist → rock
From experts pointing out that there is no evidence that the world was ever underwater – though more localised floods are of course possible and might well have inspired the story of Noah in the Bible.
uncertain
floods → point → Bible
And particularly from Darwinists and atheists, those who believe that we were created through evolution over millions of years, not all descended from eight people in the Ark.
The dimensions mirror the oddly specific Ark construction instructions which God gave to Noah just before he flooded the Earth
Which meant that those pursuing the cause have come in for plenty of flak – nicknamed ‘Arkaeologists’ and ‘pseudo archaeologists’ – and have struggled with funding.
asserted
those → believe → funding
But they have pressed on because, as Lauren puts it: ‘We don’t need proof to believe, but this discovery could save millions, perhaps billions, of souls.
uncertain
discovery → press → souls
But before we get swept away with all the excitement, perhaps we should pause a moment.
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we → sweep → excitement
Because for those of us who are not creationists, it’s all quite a jump.
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it → ’ → us
Yes, we all loved the story of Noah’s Ark, drew pictures of it in school, made papier-mache models of it and moved the little animals in and out, two by two.
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we → love → two
…and 30 more, not listed.
The Aporia
