In the world of studying ancient biblical things, people have long wanted to find where Noah’s big boat ended up. The Bible says Noah’s Ark was a huge wooden ship that saved Noah, his family, and two of every animal from a big flood about 5,000 years ago. Lots of people believe this story, but proving it with science has been hard. But now, archaeologists think they’re getting closer to finding where Noah’s Ark might be.
The main focus of this archaeological study is in Turkey, specifically in a place called Doğubayazıt district of Ağrı. There’s a big hill there that looks like a boat, and people have been curious about it since they found it in 1956. This place matches what the Bible says about Noah’s Ark landing on the “mountains of Ararat” in Turkey after a huge flood that lasted 150 days and wiped out everything. The mountain itself is really tall, about 16,500 feet, and it’s shaped like a boat.
A group of experts from Istanbul Technical University (İTÜ), Andrew University, and Ağrı İbrahim Çeçen University (AİÇU) started a journey in 2021 to find Noah’s Ark, and they’re still at it. They’re mainly studying rocks and soil from the area to find solid proof that Noah’s Ark really was there.
In December 2022, the team gathered 30 pieces of rock and soil from the area and checked them at the ITU lab. They were really excited by what they found. The samples had mud and stuff from the sea, and even bits of seafood. The experts say this shows that people were around the boat-shaped hill between 5500 and 3000 BC.
Saying that people were there around the same time as the Great Flood mentioned in the Bible is really important. But the researchers are being careful and say they need to do more work to be sure Noah’s Ark was really there.