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Mount Ararat Ark Expeditions: Navarra's Wood, the 'Anomaly' and the 2010 NAMI Claim

A century of searches on the summit ice, none confirmed

Beginnings & the Patriarchs · city / site, weapon / tool · Disputed · found 1955

Snow-capped volcanic mountain rising above a plain
Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Found 1955 — Fernand Navarra (wood, 1955 and 1969); Porcher Taylor (1949 USAF 'Ararat Anomaly' photos released 1995); Noah's Ark Ministries International (NAMI), Hong Kong (2010 claim); critiqued by Randall Price and Don Patton

Where Mount Ararat (Ağrı Dağı), eastern Turkey (Turkey)

Dates from Claims range from c. 3000 BCE (proponents) to c. 650–800 CE (radiocarbon on Navarra's wood) · Modern expeditions (1950s–2010s) · The Flood (claimed)

Now at Navarra's wood samples in private hands and labs; the 'anomaly' is a feature on the ice; NAMI's 'structures' never independently located

How Mount Ararat Ark Expeditions: Navarra's Wood, the 'Anomaly' and the 2010 NAMI Claim was found

Navarra retrieved hand-hewn timber from a crevasse near the Parrot Glacier. Aerial photos of 1949 show a dark mass on the northwest edge of the western plateau at about 4,700 m, later imaged by IKONOS satellites. In April 2010 NAMI announced wooden compartments at 4,000 m and dated them to 4,800 years old.

What it is

Ararat is a 5,137 m volcano with a permanent ice cap. Navarra's finds were worked oak beams. The 'Ararat Anomaly' is a dark, roughly rectangular patch in snow about 300 m long on satellite images. NAMI's film showed timber rooms with straw and cobwebs inside.

Why it matters for the Bible

These three claims are the ones readers meet most often. Radiocarbon tests by several laboratories dated Navarra's wood to roughly 650–800 CE, and associates accused him of planting old timber. The anomaly has been examined by photo analysts and explained as rock and ice; Turkey has never allowed a ground check, and the CIA's own analysts called it a natural feature. NAMI's discovery was investigated by Randall Price, who documented a Kurdish guide (Paraşut) hiring workers to build a set from wood carried up from the Black Sea coast; even creationist groups treat it as a hoax. The mountain named 'Ararat' is itself a medieval identification; Genesis speaks of the 'mountains of Ararat', the land of Urartu.

Disputed: Navarra's wood is medieval by radiocarbon; the anomaly is unexamined and read as natural; the NAMI find is widely regarded as a hoax, including by leading creationist researchers.

The Hebrew word: ah-rah-RAHT

אֲרָרָט

אֲרָרָט is pronounced ah-rah-RAHT and means Ararat / Urartu; a land, not a single peak, in Genesis, 2 Kings and Jeremiah (Strong's H780).

People this discovery connects to

Places

Events

The ark comes to rest (claimed location); Assyrian records of Urartu

Mount Ararat Ark Expeditions: Navarra's Wood, the 'Anomaly' and the 2010 NAMI Claim in Scripture

Genesis 8:4 The ark rests on 'the mountains of Ararat'; the searches on this peak all begin here. (First mention of Ararat.)

2 Kings 19:37 Sennacherib's sons flee 'into the land of Ararat', showing Ararat is a country (Urartu), not one mountain.

Questions people ask

What is Mount Ararat Ark Expeditions: Navarra's Wood, the 'Anomaly' and the 2010 NAMI Claim?
Ararat is a 5,137 m volcano with a permanent ice cap. Navarra's finds were worked oak beams. The 'Ararat Anomaly' is a dark, roughly rectangular patch in snow about 300 m long on satellite images. NAMI's film showed timber rooms with straw and cobwebs inside.

When was Mount Ararat Ark Expeditions: Navarra's Wood, the 'Anomaly' and the 2010 NAMI Claim discovered?
It was found in 1955 by Fernand Navarra (wood, 1955 and 1969); Porcher Taylor (1949 USAF 'Ararat Anomaly' photos released 1995); Noah's Ark Ministries International (NAMI), Hong Kong (2010 claim); critiqued by Randall Price and Don Patton, at Mount Ararat (Ağrı Dağı), eastern Turkey.

Where is Mount Ararat Ark Expeditions: Navarra's Wood, the 'Anomaly' and the 2010 NAMI Claim today?
Navarra's wood samples in private hands and labs; the 'anomaly' is a feature on the ice; NAMI's 'structures' never independently located.

Which Bible verses does Mount Ararat Ark Expeditions: Navarra's Wood, the 'Anomaly' and the 2010 NAMI Claim relate to?
Genesis 8:4, 2 Kings 19:37.

Is Mount Ararat Ark Expeditions: Navarra's Wood, the 'Anomaly' and the 2010 NAMI Claim authentic?
Navarra's wood is medieval by radiocarbon; the anomaly is unexamined and read as natural; the NAMI find is widely regarded as a hoax, including by leading creationist researchers.

Related discoveries

Sources

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