Free Republic

A 16th-century map has surfaced with striking implications. The massive Planisphere created by Italian cartographer Urbano Monte in 1587 appears to mark the final resting place of Noah’s Ark precisely where many researchers have long suspected it lies—in the mountains of Ararat region in modern-day Turkey. Independent researcher Jimmy Corsetti highlighted the alignment on social media, noting that Monte’s depiction of “Arca Noe” sits at the same location and matches the dimensions of the Durupinar Formation, a boat-shaped site that has drawn both fascination and controversy for decades. Far from mere coincidence, this cartographic detail adds another layer to mounting...

A clay tablet that has baffled scientists for 150 years has been identified as a witness's account of the asteroid suspected of being behind the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Researchers who cracked the cuneiform symbols on the Planisphere tablet believe that recorded an asteroid thought to have been more than half a mile across. The tablet, found by Henry Layard in the remains of the library in the royal place at Nineveh in the mid-19th century, is thought to be a 700 B.C. copy of notes made by a Sumerian astronomer watching the night sky. He referred to the...