A Kentucky creationist leader is urging skepticism toward reports that researchers in Turkey have found evidence of Noah’s Ark, even as a drilling project near Mount Ararat enters its second year.
Ken Ham, founder of Kentucky’s Ark Encounter theme park and the Answers in Genesis ministry, said Christians should be wary of overstating findings from the site, according to a report from World published Tuesday. His comments were directed at claims made by Noah’s Ark Scans, an American Christian research company that has promoted the Durupinar site as the likely resting place of the biblical vessel.
“Ham urged caution amid those claims, made by Noah’s Ark Scans, an American Christian research company, arguing that Christians risked their own credibility when they exaggerated evidence,” World reported.
“Let’s see the actual data. After all, good science welcomes careful investigation,” Ham said in a video addressing the claims.
The warning comes as the Noah’s Ark Research Project marks a full year of drilling and sample collection at the boat-shaped Durupinar formation near Mount Ararat, Fox News reported Friday. Some geologists contend the site is simply a natural rock formation rather than a man-made structure.
Andrew Jones, the project’s vice president, said this past year marked the first time the team used deep-core drilling at the site, reaching more than 60 feet below the surface to pull samples for laboratory analysis.
“That’s what we’ll be testing this winter. Just to see if we can find any type of man-made activity or something that suggests decayed wood,” Jones said.
Jones added that earlier testing had shown differences in the soil composition that the team wants to investigate further. Aerial footage released alongside the reporting showed the excavation site where researchers have been working.
Answers in Genesis, the ministry Ham founded, holds that Noah’s Ark was built at God’s command to preserve Noah, his family, and representative animal kinds during a global flood described in the book of Genesis. The organization’s Kentucky-based Ark Encounter attraction features a full-scale ark replica built according to the biblical dimensions.
Searches for the ark’s remains on Mount Ararat have drawn explorers for decades, with various wood fragments and rock formations proposed as evidence over the years. None of those claims has produced proof accepted by the broader scientific community, and experts note the search is hampered by harsh weather, regional political instability, and a history of hoaxes and misread evidence.
No conclusive findings have emerged from the current drilling effort, and the research team says further sample analysis is planned for the winter months.
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