Noah’s Ark Back in the News . . . But Has It Really Been Found?

Well, this site is the same site we’ve discussed numerous times, the Durupinar site on the mountains of Ararat in eastern Turkey. The Today show feature highlighted ground-penetrating radar scans of the boat-shaped structure which are claimed to show tunnels, “cabins,” and decks—all features of the historical ark.

But when this story broke several months ago (yes, it’s an older story that’s back in the news again), I shared geologist Dr. Andrew Snelling’s thoughts on the site, which he’s looked into for several decades. And he says there are both scientific and biblical problems with this site being the remains of the biblical ship. Here’s an excerpt from his full analysis, which you can read in full in a June 2025 blog post I did:

All geophysical surveys, whether GPR, LiDAR, or resistivity, provide images of the subsurface with various features and “structures” that require interpretation. Any interpretation always involves assumptions, not least an expectation or a prior concept of what one is hoping to find. This is clearly the case with this Durupinar feature. . . .

Since the rock within the structure is a limestone, these geophysical features [the tunnels and cabins] might “reflect” jointing and layering within the limestone and even an elongated tunnel or cave due to the limestone being dissolved and excavated by surface and ground waters. . . .

In Genesis 8:4, we are told that the ark landed “on the mountains of Ararat” on day 150 of the flood event, and it was not for another 74 days that the tops of surrounding mountains were seen. Yet this Durupinar “boat-shaped” formation is found in a 1000-meter (~3280 feet) deep valley on the southern slopes of Mount Ararat, a recently formed volcano that last erupted in 1840.

So, both the location and the geology discount this Durupinar site as being the remains of Noah’s ark. . . .

We thus strongly recommend these publicized claims be objectively assessed before “jumping” to hyped conclusions. Viewers of video clips on the internet need to be cautioned that such videos are not peer-reviewed and objectively vetted scientifically. In any case, we do not need to find Noah’s ark to be convinced that the global flood really occurred. God’s eyewitness account in Genesis 6–8 is testified to by Jesus himself in Matthew 24:36–39, where he compared the flood to his second coming, and it is confirmed by the overwhelming geological evidence in God’s world.

We don’t want to inadvertently use a bad argument for the truth of God’s Word.

Yes, we’d love to find Noah’s ark—it would be perhaps the greatest archaeological find of all time. But we are very cautious about accepting any of these claims, especially when there are both geological and biblical reasons to be skeptical. We don’t want to inadvertently use a bad argument for the truth of God’s Word. Besides, it is unlikely that such a wooden structure would have survived the last 4,300 years!

There’s already overwhelming evidence from geology that the flood really did happen, enough evidence to convince anybody!

The problem isn’t more evidence. The problem is hard hearts that love darkness rather than light and don’t want to repent and bow the knee before the Judge of the universe who hates sin and holds us accountable. But this same perfect, just Judge sent his Son, Jesus, to bear our punishment for us so we can have eternal life if we will repent and believe in his name.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.