[Betis70]

>>Even IF the story of the Ark was anything more than a parable, and even IF such a craft came to rest on the slopes of Ararat, there is little chance it would still exist, in any form.

Actually I'm not so sure about that, esp if it is encased in ice at the top of a mountain.

As a former archaeologist, I am constantly surprised at what we find, intact, after close to 1000 years or more. Heck look at some of the mummified remains from Peru as an example. Or the infamous Ice Man (Otzi) from the Italy/Austria border in the Alps. He was from the Copper Age, which is roughly 5,300 years ago. And they could tell what he had for dinner. And he was in ice, at the top of a mountain.

[commish]

Not to mention the group from vermont pulling a complete P-38 out from under 200FT of ice in Greenland..and after restoration, FLYING IT!

I realize it had only been there 50 years, but the point is that it was perfectly preserved, right down to the parachute on the seat.

[Stultis]

As a former archaeologist, I am constantly surprised at what we find, intact, after close to 1000 years or more. Heck look at some of the mummified remains from Peru as an example. Or the infamous Ice Man (Otzi) from the Italy/Austria border in the Alps. He was from the Copper Age, which is roughly 5,300 years ago. And they could tell what he had for dinner. And he was in ice, at the top of a mountain.

The Ice Man had fallen into (or sought shelter in) a depression or crevice. He stayed in place, in a stable block of ice, over which a glacier flowed for thousands of years. An object the size of the biblical ark would almost certainly be in the flow region of a glacier, and would be badly broken up (at best).