An independent researcher who has devoted his time to exploring a location near Mount Ararat that is believed by some to be the remains of Noah’s ark is speaking out.
Andrew Jones, who runs Noah’s Ark Scans, a group he described as “a loose organization of individuals interested in pursuing scientific work and promoting [the ark site],” said he became interested in the Genesis flood story when he was a child.
Breaking News. Spirit-Filled Stories. Subscribe to Charisma on YouTube now!
Years later, in college, this intrigue expanded when he visited Turkey and saw the location for himself.
“I’ve been going back and forth ever since,” he said.
Jones said Noah’s Ark Scans works with scientists to explore the Mount Ararat site in an effort to take steps toward discerning whether it truly is the resting place of the massive biblical vessel.
“This [time] last year, we had an Australian soil scientist come out there and he suggested a soil test that we could do because we noticed, for example, that the grass growing in this boat formation was a different color than right outside the boat object,” he said. “So [he] and the local Turkish geologists designed a test, and they got the samples, and we got some … really interesting results.”
One of the central questions surrounding the ark site is why, if it’s believed to potentially hold these remains, it has taken so long to do discernible and definitive research.
Jones said a series of issues have held up that process.
“We are just as interested as anyone else in either proving or disproving what this site is,” he said. “There’s many factors involved — some are politics, so this is Eastern Turkey. You do have issues out there that could affect doing scientific work. Then, you have religious issues.”
From Christian claims to Islamic ones, there’s a “competition” of sorts surrounding the story. Mixing that in with a lack of interest in some quarters, among other factors, has created barriers.
“If you’re going to pursue a scientific investigation to this site you have to work with a local university, which means you need to find a university and professors who are willing to put their career on the line looking for Noah’s ark, which, even for Islamic scholars, that could be a problem,” Jones said. “People think you’re crazy-looking for something like this. And so, yeah, it’s very difficult.”
But Jones said he and others continue pushing on, working with local authorities and international partners to analyze and explore the area where they believe the vessel might be located.
As for the location, Jones said the Bible gives a “very brief description” in Genesis. In fact, Genesis 8:4 reads (NIV): “And on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.”
Moses’ description, Jones said, isn’t GPS-specific.
“That’d be like me saying today, ‘Noah ark landed in the mountains of Colorado or the mountains of Canada,’” he said. “It is a general area.”
To read the full story, visit our content partners at Faithwire.
Reprinted with permission from faithwire.com. Copyright © 2025 The Christian Broadcasting Network Inc. All rights reserved.
Join Charisma Magazine Online to follow everything the Holy Spirit is doing around the world!
