Clue to findings Noah's Ark. If it ever existed.?

Question

Noah's Ark was reported to be full of animals of all kinds. The ark is presumed to have landed on the highest mountain. Mt. Ararat. Then the animals departed the ark. Ararat is in Turkey. If it is the same mountain.

I say that Noah's Ark landed in Africa on Killamanjaro. (sp)

That is where all the animals are. Turkey has no elephants.

The writer of the account was lost.

Answer 1

The Ark landed on "the mountains of Ararat." quite a large area.

Given the biblical dimensions of the Ark it's not possible to have had "two of every animal" It has been suggested that only domesticated animals ("clean" or kosher) were taken.

The biblical version appears to be an import from Mesopotamia and Babylon. There's a collection of clay tablets with almost the same tale. that predates the bible.

Mt Ararat is in Turkey and close to what was once the Soviet Union. For many years access has been restricted. Many expeditions have canvased the mountain and satellite images have shown some fuzzy abnormalities (or hopful interpretations)

There's also a lot of rumors about the Ark being found. These have two versions. First someone climbs finds the Ark and makes a description it. Second a Soviet expedition finds the Ark and tries to unsuccessfully destroy it. There's also a lot of wood taken off the mountain and reports of a church that held artifacts from the Ark. (since destroyed)

What wood that has been tested dates to the Christian era.

Given the climate it's doubtful any wood structure would have survived on a high mountain.

Answer 2

The elephants didn't have to stay in Turkey or survive there.

Now, some things others brought up.

Species: The Bible doesn't mention "species". It mentions "kinds". What exactly that means is probably either "genus" or "family" in our terms. Also, the animals did not have to be adults.

Water: This water, ofcourse, did not all come from rain. " In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened." Genesis 7:11.

The springs of the great deep probably refers to the water under the earth. The "floodgates of the heavens" probably refers to rain. Now, the water did not have to cover the high mountains that we have now, these could have formed later on.

While some people think that Noah's flood is a legend local to that area, there are many other accounts of the flood in other cultures. The Sumerian records are more similar and possibly written earlier because they are close to the region from where people started settling the earth. They could have been written earlier because Moses was the one who actually wrote down Genesis.

Thank you for reading.

Answer 3

There is no biblical ark.

Answer 4

Do we have to assume it was earth they were talking about?

Answer 5

First examine the evidence, according to the source- it was the Mountains of Ararat.  Not mountain singular.  

Next calculate an appropriately large ship that would hold 7 of all the clean animals and 2 of the unclean, with enough fodder and provisions for them all.  Remember to include the necessity of sewage disposal as required by the number of crewmembers.  

And keep in mind that the ship was in motion for a lot longer than 40 days and 40 nights.  That was just the amount of rainfall time.

Not to mention the amount of motion sickness tablets necessary to keep those critters from going crackers.

And remember that the ship was built from a wood called gopher wood, which was built with copper age tools.

Good luck.

Answer 6

I almost hesitate to even answer this but I will give a short one with, what I hope is, respect to the asker.

First of all, we know full well where the Noah story originated; it was to be found in Mesopotamian writings and folklore for over two centuries before it was used in the original book upon which the Hebrew Torah was based.

Logic might cause you to ponder the claim that Ararat is all that tall a mountain. It must have been considered very high by Mesopotamians who had no clue about the really tall mountains on earth.

Then there is the naive idea that there is enough H2O in the solar system, let alone on earth, to cover even a small hill not to mention covering all mountain ranges.

The writer of the Book of J was most likely from northern Mesopotamia hence the knowledge of Turkish lore regarding Ararat.

This subject is not complicated; it just requires 20 minutes more consideration to the bible than the average true believer is willing to invest in their own religious fantasy.

Good luck with your efforts at research, if you actually make any.

Answer 7

A National Geographic-led team, recently carbon-dated fresh water mollusks in the Black Sea at 7000 years old.

In slightly more shallow mud layers, salt water mollusks were carbon-dated to 6500 y.a., indicating that the Black Sea became salty, circa 6750 years ago!

When the Black Sea flooded into the Tigris & Euphrates Rivers (in the flat Mesopotamian valley), the entire pre-historic Ubaid civilization was demolished!

The Sumerian "Flood Story" was recorded in Cuneiform, circa 5000 y.a. Their solitary Flood Surviving Hero was named Utnapishtim!

When the semitic, Old Testament was finally written down, some 2000+ years later, 600 BCE, in Babylon (A more modern name for what had been the Sumerian Delta), Utnapishtim had become Noah, in Hebrew, and was at the time, the new Hebrew version of the tale!

Answer 8

What most fail to consider is that if indeed the account were true, whatever culture it actually took place in, afterward the ark was probably scavenged for building homes or structures.  It would have been an excellent source for building materials; why not use it?

If it was, it ain't no more.  And to search for it is pointless.

Answer 9

It is pretty obvious from genetic data that no known animals were reduced to two animals 5 thousand years ago.  The number of species on Earth also makes it impossible.  It is also not possible to have all the species on earth at the same location.  You cannot raise the sea level from several days of rain.  The amount of water in the atmosphere is insufficient to raise sea levels even an inch let alone the thousands of feet needed to fulfill the story....