 here is no biblical requirement that Noah’s Ark has survived until the modern era, though there may be some tantalizing hints. For example, in Genesis 6:14, God required that Noah coat the ark “with pitch both inside and out.” “Pitch” on the outside of the ark would have been effective in waterproofing it, but the order to cover it with pitch on the inside as well might be seen as an aide in preserving it for just such a time as this.
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 The Biblical account of the flood claims that the ark came to rest on the “mountains of Ararat.” Though some scholars have claimed that the “mountains of Ararat” could include a large region and other possible candidates for the proper mountain, the current Mt. Ararat in eastern Turkey certainly qualifies as being in the proper area. Indeed, physically speaking it must be considered the leading candidate. According to Genesis, after the ark came to rest and the waters continued to subside, it was two-and-a-half months before any other mountain peaks in the area could be observed by Noah and his family. That would be true of virtually none of the other candidates suggested for “Ararat” by scholars. Mt. Ararat in eastern Turkey is a free-standing volcanic mountain almost 17,000 feet high. Lesser Ararat, a smaller peak to the southeast is roughly 14,000 feet high and it is the only other peak in the immediate vicinity. Mt. Ararat in eastern Turkey also happens to be a peak that is glaciered over year round and could potentially keep the ark buried and hidden.
 If studied at face value, the eyewitness accounts would essentially lead to the current Mt. Ararat and no other. Some stories are undoubtedly apocryphal, some anecdotal, some invented for publicity-sake and, as with any eye-witness accounts, all must be examined with caution. Nevertheless, there is no other mountain anywhere in the world that has such a wealth of eyewitness accounts of the remains of Noah’s Ark that are not easily discounted. One such account is that of Ed Davis. Ed was stationed in Turkey during WWII with the 363rd Army Corps of Engineers building supply roads into Russia. A young man who had been hired to drive trucks for the army was named Badi Abas. One day, according to Ed, Badi pointed to a distant, snow-covered peak and said, “Agri Dagh, my home.” “Agri Dagh” is said to mean “mountain of pain,” or “painful mountain,” and it is the name used of Mt. Ararat in eastern Turkey. Any researchers using the Ed Davis account to try and locate the mountain in his story must take into account that the shepherds called the mountain “Agri Dagh.” One day, Badi’s grandfather came to the base to tell Badi that the ark was now visible and they were going to go there. Ed was given a leave of absence by his commanding officer, and having done favors for Abas’ village, was permitted to go with them. In a small village in the foothills of Ararat, they showed him artifacts that had come from the ark when it broke open: oil lamps, tools, clay pots. One cage door he was shown (estimated by Ed to be about 30” x 40”) seemed to have been made of woven branches, but now appeared petrified. On their climb they passed by some notable landmarks named by the shepherds: “Jacob’s Tomb,” and “Jacob’s Well.” |
Photograph of “Jacob’s Well” from Ahora Gorge on Mt. Ararat.
 n support of Ed’s story and authenticity, both of those important locations exist in the Ahora Gorge on Mt. Ararat in eastern Turkey, but they have been identified in no other place. Furthermore, on one of the nights, they stayed in a very large cave that was identified as the hide-out of Lawrence of Arabia. Such a cave is also known in the Ahora Gorge on Mt. Ararat.
Photograph of cave of “Lawrence” in Ahora Gorge—upper right of photo.
 fter three days of climbing they were able to look down into a horseshoe-shaped valley or crevasse and see two large pieces of the ark. Ed described it as “a huge, rectangular, man-made structure partly covered by a talas of ice and rock, lying on its side. At least a hundred feet are clearly visible. I can even see inside of it, into the end where it’s been broken off, timbers are sticking out, kind of twisted and gnarled, water’s cascading out from under it.” Ed could see three levels in the ark and a second large portion of the ark further down the mountain.
Elfred Lee’s depiction of Ed Davis’ eyewitness description of the Ark.
he shepherds told Ed that there were cages of all sizes inside the ark, and that in the upper floor there were forty-eight rooms for Noah and his family. In the morning, when they were going to use ropes to climb down to the ark, the ark was covered by a fresh snow storm and invisible. The climb back down the mountain took five days.
 ne other account that bears mentioning, is the account of Vince Wills. Vince was stationed in eastern Turkey during WWII and he recalled that one day, several pilots were examining photos that had been taken of a huge wooden ship jutting from the ice, high on Mt. Ararat. When it became obvious to some that they were looking at the remains of Noah’s Ark, Vince and his pilot friend wanted to know specifically the route they needed to fly in order to see it for themselves. The following day, they flew over the Ahora Gorge on Mt. Ararat in the specific route and orientation described to them and they saw the ark for themselves. Vince was adamant that what he saw was not a rock or cave or some other type of anomaly—he said that it was a huge wooden ship and that there was damage to one side and he could see into the interior. He was so convinced of what he had seen, that he told my friend and climbing partner, Richard Bright, “I would stake my salvation on the fact that I saw Noah’s Ark.” Vince never wavered in his conviction nor his depiction of what he had seen to the day he died. [for more information on the history of the search for Noah’s Ark, see the website: noahsarksearch.com, as well as the pertinent chapters in my book.]
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 y “involvement” in the search for Noah’s Ark began way back in 1973 when my college roommate gave me John Warwick Montgomery’s book, The Quest for Noah’s Ark. [Bethany Fellowship, Inc., Minneapolis, MN, 1972.] As I read of the eyewitness accounts and the fact that many believed the ark was still extant on Mt. Ararat in eastern Turkey, I was stunned by the implications (see above). Over the years since, I have been amazed by the levels of compromise that I have encountered within the Christian church in America. Many pastors are confused and overwhelmed by the conflicting stories surrounding the issues of creation and evolution and just end up steering clear altogether. Some have believed the pronouncements of “scientists” regarding evolution and time without ever attempting to reconcile the issues with Scripture, and others have simply accepted and admitted compromise openly. For such, even the discovery of Noah’s Ark and an explanation of its implications may be “too little, too late.” But the vast majority of pastors and laymen in the church simply need information: “when you know the truth, the truth will set you free.”
y first trip to Turkey was in 1997, and though I was part of a larger group (with Ken Long and “Rock of Ages Ministries”), the group never materialized in eastern Turkey, and I ended up traveling with Mark Cutler, a geologist from Huntington Beach, California. Though we did not end up climbing Mt. Ararat, it was our “get-acquainted” trip and it was invaluable in both making contacts and finding the “layout of the land.” [for more information on each trip, see the appropriate chapters in the book] In 1998, I met with Richard Bright (author of The Ark, A Reality?, and Quest for Discovery, and veteran of many climbs of Mt. Ararat). Though we attempted several different routes of access to the mountain, both legal, and not-so-legal, we were unable to gain access or climb. Then in 1999, through my connections with veteran ark researcher, John McIntosh, I was able to meet up with Paul Thomson. Paul and I also tried several different routes of access, but ended up paying a shepherd to carry our packs and climb by night. That was a harrowing climb and we ended up trapped by a storm, with no access to water, and with no tent in which to weather the storm. By now, I was beginning to question both my involvement in the search for the Ark, as well as my sanity. On the way down the mountain on my own (Paul stayed for several more days to try and outlast the weather and make his way to the gorge—he was ultimately unsuccessful in the latter, but he did survive and return to civilization.), I survived a vicious attack by three large wolf-dogs, but I managed to avoid the military and Kurdish terrorists (Paul had made two earlier attempts to climb alone, in 1991 and 1992—both times he was apprehended by terrorists and the second time he was held as prisoner for 35 days before being released unharmed.). Nevertheless, in 2000, I returned on my own for yet another attempt, but the shepherd who had promised to take me “at night” was now reticent to do so. In the end, I connected again with Richard Bright, and we made an ill-fated attempt to climb to the ice on the western side of the mountain (described in his book, Quest for Discovery). Once again I was turned back by time and conditions on the mountain.
 inally, in 2001, our “team,” with Richard Bright and Paul Thomson as my partners, received military permission to climb the southern “tourist” route. Once at the top, though Paul came down with some mysterious malady, Richard and I were able to proceed over the mountain to the top of the Ahora Gorge where we took numerous photos during prime glacial melt-back.
Richard Bright at the upper edge of the Ahora Gorge.
 othing of interest showed up, either under focus of the eye or the camera’s lens. But, once again, this time because of Paul’s medical condition, we had to cut our trip short and return without the chance to thoroughly search the regions we had mapped out. It was a harrowing trip back down the mountain, much of it in utter darkness without so much as a match, let alone flashlight.
n 2003, we had what I would consider a major breakthrough when Richard Bright and I were able to interview a family of shepherds living on the southeast side of Mt. Ararat. They claimed the surname of Abas and seemed likely to be part of the same family/clan who had taken Ed Davis to see the ark in 1943. They told us (through our interpreter) that the ark was on Mt. Ararat, but that they were afraid of its discovery. They claimed that their father had been to the ark but, before he died, he had forbidden them to go there any more. He was afraid that when the ark was discovered, the world would end. Ed Davis had described large grape vines on the mountain (so large he couldn’t put his arms around the base) that were still associated with Noah himself, but I have never seen any such thing (and that has led some researchers to insist that Ed was on a different mountain entirely). When I asked if there were any grapevines, I was told that “Yes, several years before, but they were now destroyed.” The impression I got was that the military, in their quest to remove the inhabitants from the mountain, had eliminated the grapevines. I was also told by one of the group that when he had entered a large cave in the Ahora Gorge the previous month, he had encountered a very bad smell. I asked him if it smelled like rotten eggs, and he got animated; “Yes, yes, like rotten food,” he said. Ed Davis had described the very strong smell of sulfur in one of the caves in which they stayed on their climb to see the ark. The shepherds eventually agreed to help us climb to around 14,000 feet and set up camp, but they were too afraid to go any further. We did search the area they told us was “the ark area,” but came away with nothing convincing, and were forced to, once again, vacate early when we were told that the military was coming. Again, much of the descent was made in pitch blackness after a full day of searching, and under utter exhaustion.
y last trip was in summer of 2005 and Richard Bright and I were able to return to the area of our search in 2003, as well as to traverse around the mountain to the edge of the Ahora Gorge. It proved impossible for us to access the gorge from our vantage point, so we were unable to continue our search in the gorge. However, we were able to search the area referred to by the shepherds in 2003 as the “ark area.” At one point, a Turkish mountaineer who was one of our “guides,” was able to take my digital camera over to the edge of a ravine and take pictures down into the ravine. Until I returned to the states, I was not able to actually examine the pictures in much depth or to zoom in for more detail. When I did so, on several of the pictures, I noticed an unusually symmetric formation. In my mind’s eye, though it seems covered in dirt and ice, it clearly has a rectangular shape that is unlike anything else in the area. In fact, there is a smaller rectangular shape on top which may represent the raised superstructure of windows described by several eyewitness accounts.
| Can you find any symmetrical “rectangular” features in this photo? |
| Look at the area outlined in red, and compare to the unsymmetrical aspects of every “natural” formation. Could this be a portion of the ark still covered in ice? |
certainly do not claim to have “discovered” the ark, but I do believe the formation shown is unique enough to warrant further investigation. Had we seen it at the time, we most certainly would have tried to make our way down the cliff and hack away with an ice axe or two. The piece shown could be the lower portion described by Ed Davis that had slid down the valley and was partially covered. [for more thorough accounts of each year’s expedition/climb, see appropriate chapters in book]
n addition, in the spring of 2005, I flew to Turkey and from there was able to make my way to Yerevan, Armenia. I had been given information about an old Armenian farmer who had a handmade book, both describing the location and history of the ark on Ararat, but with photos and a map as well. Though, in the end, I was unable to find him, from the source of the story, I was able to come away with a written account of the Armenian knowledge of the Ark’s location. Though it has some interesting details that coincide with the Ed Davis account (such as describing a very large rock that blocks access to the trail—Ed called it “Doomsday Rock”), it does not appear to offer sufficient information to locate the ark. Proof of the book’s existence, like the existence of the ark itself, remains as a tantalizing carrot dangling just out of reach . . . for now.
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