Posted on 03/09/2006 11:30:41 PM PST by Tim Long
Digital image of 'Ararat Anomaly' has researchers taking closer look
A new, high-resolution digital image of what has become known as the "Ararat Anomaly" is reigniting interest in the hunt for Noah's Ark.
Satellite image of 'Ararat Anomaly,' taken by DigitalGlobe's QuickBird Satellite in 2003 and now made public for the first time (courtesy: DigitalGlobe)
The location of the anomaly on the northwest corner of Mt. Ararat in eastern Turkey has been under investigation from afar by ark hunters for years, but it has remained unexplored, with the government of Turkey not granting any scientific expedition permission to explore on site.
But the detail revealed by the new photo from DigitalGlobe's QuickBird satellite has a man at the helm of the probe excited once again.
"I've got new found optimism ... as far as my continuing push to have the intelligence community declassify some of the more definitive-type imagery," Porcher Taylor, an associate professor in paralegal studies at the University of Richmond, told Space.com.
For more than three decades, Taylor has been a national security analyst, and has also served as a senior associate for five years at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C.
"I'm calling this my satellite archaeology project," Taylor said.
Space.com reports the project has been combining the photographic resources of QuickBird with GeoEye's Ikonos spacecraft, Canada's Radarsat 1, as well as declassified aerial and satellite images snapped by U.S. intelligence agencies.
While it's quite possible the item of interest could simply be a natural ridge of rock, snow and ice, Taylor says there's also a chance it could be something manmade.
"I had no preconceived notions or agendas when I began this in 1993 as to what I was looking for," he said. "I maintain that if it is the remains of something manmade and potentially nautical, then it's potentially something of biblical proportions."
The anomaly remains ensconced in glacial ice at an altitude of 15,300 feet, and Taylor says the photos suggest it's length-to-width ratio is close to 6:1, as indicated in the Book of Genesis.
The U.S. Air Force took the first photographs of the Mt. Ararat site in 1949. The images allegedly revealed what seemed to be a structure covered by ice, but were held for years in a confidential file labeled "Ararat Anomaly."
The new image was actually taken in 2003, but has never been revealed to the public until now.
Arking up the wrong tree?
Meanwhile, there are others who believe Noah's Ark has already been found, and tourists can actually visit it on a mountain next to Ararat.
Some believe this is Noah's Ark, already found on a mountain next to Mt. Ararat (courtesy: wyattmuseum.com)
The late Ron Wyatt, whose Tennessee-based foundation, Wyatt Archaeological Research, purported the ark has already been found at Dogubayazit, Turkey, some 12-15 miles from Ararat, noting Genesis states the ark rested "upon the mountains of Ararat," not mountain.
Is this a hair from a large cat aboard Noah's Ark? (photo: Richard Rives, wyattmuseum.com)
Wyatt's website is filled with on-location photographs and charts promoting its case with physical evidence including radar scans of bulkheads on the alleged vessel, deck timber and iron rivets, large "drogue" stones which are thought to have acted as types of anchors, and even some animal hair inside, possibly from a large cat like a lion or tiger.
A flood of doubt
However, there's been no shortage of critics from both scientific and Christian circles who think the Dogubayazit site is erroneous.
Lorence Collins, a retired geology professor from California State University, Northridge, joined the late David Fasold, a one-time proponent of the Wyatt site, in writing a scientific summary claiming the location is "bogus."
"Evidence from microscopic studies and photo analyses demonstrates that the supposed Ark near Dogubayazit is a completely natural rock formation," said the 1996 paper published in the Journal of Geoscience Education. "It cannot have been Noah's Ark nor even a man-made model. It is understandable why early investigators falsely identified it."
The Answers in Genesis website provides an in-depth report attempting to debunk any validity the Dogubayazit site has, and concludes by stating:
"[A]s Christians we need to always exercise due care when claims are made, no matter who makes them, and any claims must always be subjected to the most rigorous scientific scrutiny. If that had happened here, and particularly if the scientific surveys conducted by highly qualified professionals using sophisticated instruments had been more widely publicized and their results taken note of, then these claims would never have received the widespread credence that they have."
Officials with Wyatt Archaeological Research remain unfazed in the face of such criticism.
"The site ... is actually something that you can look at. Not some made up story that no one is quite able to reach but something that is really there," said president Richard Rives. "It is a 'boat-shaped object' composed of material containing organic carbon, which is what is found in petrified wood. ...
"While there is more research that needs to be done at the site, there is a substantial amount of evidence that would indicate that the Wyatt site is not a natural object. ...
"Today, everyone wants to tell us how to think. We, at Wyatt Archaeological Research, do not do that. We just present the evidence that we have and let each individual make his own decision."
In both the Old and New Testaments, the Bible speaks of Noah and the ark, and Jesus Christ and the apostles Paul and Peter all make reference to Noah's flood as an actual historical event.
'Noah's Ark' by Pennsylvania artist Edward Hicks, 1846
According to Genesis, Noah was a righteous man who was instructed by God to construct a large vessel to hold his family and many species of animals, as a massive deluge was coming to purify the world which had become corrupt.
Genesis 6:5 states: "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."
Noah was told by God to take aboard seven pairs of each of the "clean" animals – that is to say, those permissible to eat – and two each of the "unclean" variety. (Gen. 7:2)
Though the Bible says it rained for 40 days and 40 nights, it also mentions "the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days."
The ark then "rested" upon the mountains of Ararat, but it was still months before Noah and his family – his wife, his three sons and the sons' wives – were able to leave the ark and begin replenishing the world.
Nice prime.
Even more amazingly, I'm actually a little past it. Oh! You mean post 200.
That's the amazing part... that evolution over millinea can't be believed, but that maybe continental drift happened suddenly after the flood, maybe all the variations in animal species all happened rapidly after the flood, maybe they all hibernated in some kind of suspended animation during the flood... maybe maybe maybe we really are riding on the back of a turtle.
I don't get why this chapter has to be literal. Maybe just maybe some of these old legends that were passed down were just that.
The Liger is like my most favorite animal.
LOL
You don't have to get so worked up. Is that what science is to you, a bunch of unfounded attacks? I said nothing about miracles.
Science is using a method to prove something and explain the world above and beyond just believing in something with no proof.
I obviously don't accept that timescale.
I obviously don't accept that timescale.
Your lack of acceptance of the accepted timescale will not be considered a serious impediment to scientists as they conduct their investigations.
What is a cubit? What kept a boat that size from falling apart from storm swells? How did it stay afloat?
Where did Noah and his family and his animals land? Where are the "mountains of Ararat?" Is the ark still in the same place after 5000 years?
What brought on the flood? How deep was it really? Where did all that water come from?
Can it happen again?
There are lots and lots of theories. Hard evidence is almost totally lacking.
If we can believe it was "an act of God," it's not much of a stretch to think of the flood as a natural event -- i.e., caused by something beyond the control of man, perhaps beyond even the imagination of man.
The ancients developed quite a knowledge of astronomy, yet had an irrational fear of comets that carried into relatively modern times.
Or was their fear rational?
So, its OK for you not to accept a timescale.
But if we question the ark story, and accept evolution, then we are wrong and heretical?
This is where creationists always lose arguments, they make up their own rules, and if something doesn't fit, they just attribute it to God pulling a miracle.
Not exactly a rational way of thinking eh?
I've heard that Haile-Bopp was seen just before the Flood.
I'm not saying you are wrong or heretical. You're talking about theology. That's the same thing the Left does with abortion. They say their opponents have no basis other than religion. I'm talking about science that happens to coincide with a religious text. Just saying "God did it" isn't Creation science, and that's not what I did, FRiend.
Who is this Pinkoski character anyway? I've seen some of his stuff at Bibleland.com, but his views are like nothing I've seen in the YEC community.
This site probably is bogus, but it's frustrating that politics stand in the way of checking it out.
People are pretty quick to dismiss the possibility too.
If you want to know the general creationist consensus regarding these T.O talking points, see:
http://www.nwcreation.net/wiki/index.php?title=Creationist_claims#CH:_Biblical_Creationism
Dr. Baumgardner, who is a Young-Earth Creationist who researches mechanisms for the global flood, has repudiated Wyatt's find in this matter after personal investigation.
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