The most recent is a Christian team from China and Turkey who say they are “99.9 percent” sure the relics they found at 12,000 feet on Mount Ararat are the biblical ark.
The group from Noah’s Ark Ministries International in Hong Kong said carbon dating puts the relics at 4,800 years old, matching the time frame of the great flood. And the structure contained several compartments they believe were used to house animals. But not everyone is convinced.
A former member of the Chinese team believes the find is a hoax. Randall Price, director of the Center for Judaic Studies at Liberty University, said he has reason to believe a local group of Kurdish men carried wood up to the mountain and staged an elaborate hoax, according to an e-mail leaked to media.
Other Christian skeptics say the group has not provided enough evidence yet. But at press time, Noah’s Ark was standing by their find. They say there’s no plausible explanation for a heavy, 65-foot wood structure to be buried in ice atop a mountain.
“Up to now I believe this is the most probable explanation,” team coordinator Clara Wei told the Christian Science Monitor. “We don’t have another explanation.” Turkish officials welcomed the discovery, saying it could boost tourism. Price and other Christian explorers planned to keep searching.
