Durupinar site
(Photo by Wikkiwooki via Wikipedia)
A reader sent me a link to the following:
What the Tunnels Beneath Mount Ararat Reveal — and What They Don’t
April 22, 2026
A boat-shaped geological formation in eastern Turkey is making headlines again, and for many Christians the very idea sends a familiar current of hope through the soul. Researchers from the California-based group Noah’s Ark Scans claim that ground-penetrating radar surveys of the Durupınar Formation — a 157-meter-long mound located about 18 miles south of Mount Ararat — have revealed what appear to be interior corridors, angular subterranean structures, and a central tunnel large enough, they say, to walk through. The secular press, predictably, oscillates between breathless wonder and performative skepticism. Neither reaction quite serves the truth.
The story is not new — which is itself worth noting. The Durupınar site was first spotted from the air in September 1959 by Turkish Army Captain İlhan Durupınar during a post-earthquake aerial survey. Amateur archaeologist and Bible believer Ron Wyatt spent the better part of two decades promoting it through the 1980s and ‘90s before his death in 1999.
What is new is the scope and sophistication of the technology now being brought to bear on the site, and, perhaps more significantly, the announcement that a formal excavation — the first ever sanctioned at this location — is being planned in partnership with Turkish universities including Istanbul Technical University and Ağrı İbrahim Çeçen University.
Lead researcher Andrew Jones of Noah’s Ark Scans has deployed ground-penetrating radar, infrared thermography, electrical resistivity tomography, and soil analysis across the formation. The results, he argues, are anything but random.
“This is not what you would anticipate finding if the site were merely a solid block of rock or the result of random mudflow debris,” Jones told CBN. “However, it is precisely what you would expect to discover if this were a constructed boat, consistent with the biblical specifications for Noah’s Ark.”
Soil samples from 22 locations returned traces of clay-like materials, marine sediments, and remnants of shellfish — with radiometric dating placing the samples between 3,500 and 5,000 years old. https://www.blessed.report/p/what-the-tunnels-beneath-mount-ararat
As far as the age of the Ark goes, the COGwriter article Timelines and Early Church History has the time of the Great Flood dated to 2325 B.C., 4350 years ago. So, the dating range is consistent.
Here is more from that article:
Some of the most pointed criticism of the Durupınar site comes from within the creation science community itself. Geologist Dr. Andrew Snelling of Answers in Genesis, who has studied the site for decades, raises two significant objections.
The first is geological: the Durupınar formation sits in a valley roughly 3,280 feet deep on the southern slopes of Mount Ararat — a volcano that last erupted as recently as 1840. The second is scriptural: Genesis 8:4 places the ark’s resting point high enough that it would take another 74 days after grounding before the tops of the surrounding mountains became visible. A valley floor does not fit that description. Snelling notes that geophysical surveys — whether GPR, LiDAR, or resistivity imaging — always require interpretation, and that interpretation inevitably reflects the assumptions of the interpreter. …
Professor Faruk Kaya of Ağrı İbrahim Çeçen University, commenting on ceramic fragments found near the site during recent road construction, agreed that while the pottery indicates human activity in the area between roughly 3000 and 5500 BC, it does not constitute archaeological proof of anything more.
“In the studies carried out so far,” Kaya said, “no satisfactory information or evidence has been reached.”
None of this settles the question — and that is precisely the point. The answer to “Has Noah’s Ark been found?” remains, for the moment, no. What has been found is a genuinely remarkable site that warrants serious, methodical, and fully transparent scientific investigation. https://www.blessed.report/p/what-the-tunnels-beneath-mount-ararat
So, there are concerns that this may not be the actual location. But it is possible that seismic activity or weather incidents could have possibly moved the Ark from its original resting place. Let me also add here (04/26/26) the following scripture:
25 To Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; (Genesis 10:25)
It may be that the division included continental separations and/or changing the topography of the Ark location.
That said, here is another article related to this site in Turkey:
Jesus Warned The Last Days Would Mirror The Days Of Noe, And Now Fresh Claims About Noah’s Ark In Turkey Arrive As Another Witness To A World Ripe For Judgment
April 21, 2026
For a generation racing at full speed toward the judgment of God, it is more than a little remarkable that new claims about Noah’s Ark are surfacing right now, in the very hour when Jesus Christ told us to look back to “the days of Noe” as the prophetic template for the end. The lost world hears these reports and shrugs, the scoffers mock, the scientists argue, and life rolls on uninterrupted, exactly as it did before the flood came and swept them all away. Whether this latest discovery in Turkey turns out to be the final word on Noah’s Ark or just another breadcrumb on the trail, the larger truth remains fixed and unmovable: the world of Noah laughed at the warning until judgment fell, and this Laodicean generation is doing the very same thing here at the end of the Church Age.
Jesus did not say the last days would merely contain interesting archaeological discussions, He said they would be “as the days of Noe were,” a time marked by normalcy, indifference, and total spiritual blindness. Men would eat, drink, marry, build, buy, sell, and carry on as if tomorrow is guaranteed, all while ignoring the clear warnings of coming wrath. So when headlines begin circling again around Noah, the Ark, and the flood, the Bible believer doesn’t have to force the connection, it is already there in plain sight. The issue is not whether the world can locate every timber of the Ark, the issue is whether this lost world will heed the warning the Ark represents before the door is shut once more. …
Andrew Jones, a researcher with Noah’s Ark Scans, told GB News that “exciting new findings” about the rock formation first discovered in 1959 on Turkey’s Mount Ararat could prove the boat from the Book of Genesis once existed. Ground penetrating radar scans and soil samples from the tunnel site — which reportedly match the 515-foot dimensions of Noah’s Ark — uncovered a series of “corridors” below the earth, the outlet reported.
Tunnels were discovered running down the middle of the “boat” and alongside the inside edge of the possible ship, leading to a central cavity Jones called the atrium. “God told Noah to bring the animals in. And so these animals would have stayed there, plus Noah and his family. What’s interesting is that these voids are lining up below the ground – and they’re not just random,” Jones told the outlet.
“These tunnels are also following a pattern. GPR is just a way to look below the soil using radar. There’s also been studies done with IRT, which is another geophysical technique – and they’re showing a ship-shaped hull still preserved deep in the soil,” the researcher said.
“In 2024, we took 88 random soil samples inside and outside of that ship shape,” Jones recalled. “And what they showed was that the soil inside the ship shape had three times more organic matter than right outside, and 38 per cent more potassium.”
“What that shows is that the soil is unique. And the grass, in the fall, it has a yellower color just inside. It’s exactly the link given to the Bible. It’s 300 Egyptian cubits. For us, these are all positive lines that we’re pursuing, and it’s showing that there’s more to be found,” he said.
Fossil remains found deposited around the boat-shaped site, which sits roughly 6,500 feet above sea level, could also show evidence of the Great Flood, Jones argued. Ancient coral and seashells uncovered by researchers could prove that “one time this area was underwater,” he added. Jones and his team are now considering exploring the mysterious tunnels with a robotic device. “We have a team that is designing a robotic, remote-controlled device that could go down inside the holes and explore the tunnels,” he told the outlet. https://www.nowtheendbegins.com/biblical-archaeologists-in-turkey-make-astounding-discovery-regarding-noahs-ark-as-the-world-grows-ever-closer-to-the-days-of-noe-jesus-warned-about/
Back in 2023, Israel365 News posted the following related to this site:
Scientists announce: Site of Noah’s Ark shows human activity between 5500-3000 BCE
November 13, 2023
A team from Istanbul Technical University (İTÜ) and Ağrı İbrahim Çeçen University (AİÇÜ)has been researching an area in which they believe lie the remains of Biblical Noah’s Ark.
A research team from Istanbul Technical University (İTÜ), Andrew University, and Ağrı İbrahim Çeçen University (AİÇÜ) carried out its first study of the site in December 2022. The group, which included academics specialized in geophysics, chemistry and geoarchaeology research, collected 30 samples consisting of soil and rock fragments during their investigations in the region. According to the results, it was determined that there were human activities in the region from the period between 5500 and 3000 BCE.
Professor Faruk Kaya stated, “With the dating, it is not possible to say that the ship is here. Extensive research is required for this to emerge. In the upcoming period, we have reached an agreement to collaborate on joint research led by Istanbul Technical University (İTÜ), Andrew University, and Ağrı İbrahim Çeçen University (AİÇÜ). In the future, these three universities will continue their work in this field.”
The site was first discovered by map engineer Capt. Ilhan Durupınar in 1959 during a reconnaissance flight to map the eastern Anatolia region in Turkey. The site is located 8 miles south of the Greater Mount Ararat summit at an elevation of about 2,000 meters above sea level. The size and shape of the formation led to its promotion by some believers as the petrified ruins of the original Noah’s Ark.
The “boat formation” appears to be the “exact length” of the ark as written in the Bible – which is around 150 meters, or 300 cubits in Biblical terms.
This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark shall be three hundred amot, its width fifty amot, and its height thirty amot. (Genesis 6:15)
Geologists however claim that the mountainous bump that was discovered half a century ago is nothing more than a unique rock formation. https://www.israel365news.com/378943/scientists-announce-site-of-noahs-ark-shows-human-activity-between-5500-3000-bce/
Whether or not this is Noah’s Ark is still unclear.
The Turks have been involved in this research on the Ark for some time. I posted the following here over a decade ago:
July 9, 2014
By the end of March 2014, a team consisting of Turkish, Dutch and Belgian members launched an expedition on Mount Ararat, Turkey and found at an altitude of 4.000 meters remains of a possible wooden structure and also pottery. Jeroen Rensen, a Dutch archaeologist from the team, was pleased with the success of the expedition. He says, “It was very tough. Heavy winds and snowstorms made the first two attempts to reach the site fail. The third and last all-or-nothing attempt succeeded and the team reached the location. There, in a fissure within the icecap under 10 meters of rock, ice and snow we found well-preserved wooden remains and pottery too.” Later this year a major scientific expedition will conduct a follow-up investigation to determine what the artifacts and wooden remains constitute.
Another witness is a Belgian physician, Dr. Marcel Verheyen. In response to the critics that wood and artifacts were deliberately planted, he says, “That is absolutely impossible. The mountain’s terrible terrain is rather inaccessible, let alone to carry beams of wood. You need to be there and see it with your own eyes, before you put forward any hypothesis. I am 100% sure that it is impossible to plant such a structure there.”
Recent reports of discovery of wood remains on Mount Ararat were made in 2010 by a Hong Kong based Christian group, NAMI (Noah’s Ark Ministries International), yet the finding has been overshadowed by lot of criticisms. The site documented by Rensen and Verheyen in March is in the vicinity of the claim made a few years back. Participating in the expedition as independent investigators, Rensen and Verheyen do not want to engage into the controversy, but conduct a step-by-step scientific exploration with a multi-disciplinary scientific team. Rensen says, “The question of whether there are any wooden remains at all on Mount Ararat has been answered. But so many questions still remain. The main question to be answered now is: What type of site do the remains at this location represent?” http://popefrancis.einnews.com/pr_news/212962036/remains-of-wooden-structure-and-pottery-found-on-mount-ararat-turkey?n=1&code=oxPopNDvaPkLwTjA
I have long felt that the day may come when Noah’s ark is conclusively found.
There are at least two risks associated with that. One would be that it later would be supposedly proven to be false—which would emboldened biblical skeptics.
But the other is because both biblical (e.g. Revelation 13:4,8) and non-biblical prophecy warn of a time when an ecumenical religion will take over much of the world, if Noah’s Ark is ever conclusively accepted, this could represent part of a major turning point in getting more of humanity to accept a coming world religion that claims to be Christian. Since many cultures have a tale of the flood (see 300 Versions of the Flood), this will make the coming ecumenical religion acceptable even to certain cultures that do not normally refer to the Bible for their beliefs.
Jesus warned that the end times would be like the time PRIOR to the flood of Noah’s time:
36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. 37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40 Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. 42 Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 44 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. (Matthew 24:36-44)
Many will not understand end time prophecies and not pay sufficient attention (see also Is there a need for a prophet now?).
We know the great flood happened. There is evidence in many cultures, plus, there is scientific evidence that there was enough water on the Earth for it to happen (see also Water, Noah’s Flood, and Chinese Characters).
Perhaps Noah’s Ark will be conclusively found. But if it is, its finding may be used by the forces of Satan to put forth his end time agenda. In this age, its discovery would not truly turn people to the God of the Bible.
UPDATE 04/26/26: We just uploaded the following related video:
14:28
Risks of Finding Noah’s Ark?
A boat-shaped geological formation in eastern Turkey is making headlines again. It is referred to as the Durupınar Formation — a 157-meter-long mound located about 18 miles south of Mount Ararat. Researchers from the California-based group Noah’s Ark Scans claim that ground-penetrating radar surveys of the Durupınar Formation have revealed what appear to be interior corridors, angular subterranean structures, and a central tunnel large enough, they say, to walk through. Some archaeologists suggest that the age is consistent with Noah’s Ark and the Great Flood (which happened about 4350 years ago). Could a valley location be consistent with the account in Genesis? What about the dividing of the earth in the time of Peleg? For some Protestants the very idea sends a familiar current of hope that this will lead many to convert to Christianity. But is that the case? Are there any risks? Did Jesus warn that the last days would be like the days of Noah? If so, what precisely did Jesus warn would be the case? What are two risks associated with concluding that Noah’s Ark truly has been found? Might it be a turning point of sorts for the ecumenical interfaith power that the Bible warns against to rise up? Steve Dupuie and Dr. Thiel address these matters in this video.
Here is a link to our video: Risks of Finding Noah’s Ark?
Here are links to some items of possibly related interest:
Timelines and Early Church History This has dates and some timelines when biblical and non-biblical events took place.
How Old is the Earth and How Long Were the Days of Creation? Gap Theory? Does the Bible allow for the creation of the universe and earth billions of years ago? Why do some believe they are no older than 6,000 years old? What is the gap theory? Were the days of creation in Genesis 1:3 through 2:3 24 hours long? Here are links to two sermons: Gap Theory: Doctrine or Modern Heresy? and Genesis, ‘Prehistoric man,’ and the Gap theory. Here is a link to a related article in Spanish: ¿Cuán vieja es la Tierra? ¿Cuán largos fueron los Días de la Creación? ¿Teoría de la brecha? Here is a link to a video in Spanish: La edad de la Tierra, la Biblia y Teoría de la Brecha.
CG7-Salem, Dinosaurs, and the Gap Doctrine When were there dinosaurs? Were they on Noah’s Ark?
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