# Noah's Ark on Mt. Ararat **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 9, 2000, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/noahs-ark-on-mt-ararat/32591 "2000-09-09T11:25:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2000, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/noahs-ark-on-mt-ararat/32591/21 "2000-09-09T21:25:06Z")
Finally free after being cooped up in the ark, quoth the raven: “nevermore”. ---
**Author:** ![Skaill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/977dab/32.png) [@Skaill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skaill)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2000, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/noahs-ark-on-mt-ararat/32591/22 "2000-09-09T21:39:25Z")
CKDextHavn said:- Oh, Lordy, not this one again. And the Ark of the Covenant was a huge electrical generator….etc…etc I was asking about the tabernacle recreation experiment and nothing to do with Ark of the covenant whatsoever – although the two are always closely associated for obvious reasons. A disposable camera flash mechanism, some aluminium foil, copper wire and a medium size capacitor are a proven experiment that you can collect static electricity from the surrounding air, sufficient to fire the flash intermittently so why not the structure of something else ? ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2000, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/noahs-ark-on-mt-ararat/32591/23 "2000-09-09T22:08:04Z")
From what I understand, the word _ark_ as used in the Bible basically meant box. The ark of the covenant was a box holding the ten commandments and some other holy items. And Noah’s ark was just a big waterproof box for holding animals. No keel or nothing. So why is everyone looking for a boat? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2000, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/noahs-ark-on-mt-ararat/32591/24 "2000-09-09T23:53:20Z")
Man gets a lot of pack animals. Man has no place to keep pack animals. Man loads pack animals with wood. Man leads pack animals ,loaded with wood, up mountain. Man unloads animals, dumps wood on ground. Man uses wood; builds large barn. Man puts pack animals, used in hauling wood up mountain, inside barn. Animals fill barn with sh_t. Dunce comes along; points at barn; asks:“What’s that?”😕 Man , frustrated, snarls: “It’s a boat, Dummy!” Dunce says “A miracle!!!” Dunce picks up sh_t; takes it home; venerates it as a Holy Relic. :wally ---
**Author:** ![JonF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@JonF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JonF)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2000, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/noahs-ark-on-mt-ararat/32591/25 "2000-09-10T00:49:25Z")
> [@](#): > > a huge boat shaped depression in the rock near the top of a mountain”. > Well pictures do exist … If nothing else, the thing is there, it does exist and it is an anomaly. The thing is there, it does exist … why do you say it’s an anomaly? Take a look at [Noah’s Ark Search](http://www.noahsarksearch.com/durupinar.htm), especially [BOGUS “NOAH’S ARK” FROM TURKEY EXPOSED AS A COMMON GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE](http://www.csun.edu/~vcgeo005/bogus.html). You might also be interested in [A Great Christian Scam](http://www.tentmaker.org/Dew/Dew7/D7-AGreatChristianScam.html) and [Wyatt Archaeological Research Fraud Documentation](http://www.tentmaker.org/WAR/index.html). ---
**Author:** ![JTR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee59a6/32.png) [@JTR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JTR)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2000, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/noahs-ark-on-mt-ararat/32591/26 "2000-09-10T01:41:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Skaill \* > \*\*…these may be the same blurry photos which JTR referred to when beginning this thread… \*\* Okay, I did a little research. I knew that the narrator of the show I watched was one of the guys from the TV series “Law and Order,” so I hunted down the narrator’s name (Jerry Orbach) and checked his credits. I turns out that he narrates a weekly show on PAX channel called “Encounters with the Unexplained.” That particular episode was called “Is It Noah’s Ark?” The previous week the show was about Roswell, and the following week it was about the pyramids. So it wasn’t some kind of formal documentary after all. It was just a weekly series about popular myths. My apologies for the confusion–I think I’ve watched a total of three hours of PAX programming in my life. One big feature of this show was the assertion that the ark is sitting completely _aboveground_. The ark is broken into two sections, and it is covered with ice part of the year and revealed part of the year. This accorded with another “documentary” I vaguely remember from about 20 years back: There was a big wooden box sitting _aboveground_ on the top of Mt. Ararat. People crawled on top of it and even got inside of it. A number of expeditions explored it and even took away pieces of it. But the evidence tended to disappear for one reason or another. So this was really the starting point of my initial question: Is there in fact a big-ass box sitting on top of Ararat, and if so, what do scientists think is the origin? I don’t believe for a second that there was a global flood 5,000 years ago and that we’re all descended from Noah and his family. But for all I know there might in fact be a big wooden box on Ararat, and it might just be a sweat lodge place up there by the local Caucasus tribes back a couple hundred years ago or something. Basically I just wanted to find out if that damned box existed, and to find out if anyone had ever tracked down a realistic explanation for its presence there. Skaill’s input about the ark being _buried underground_ is perhaps the best proof I can ask for that there’s no box up there. If Biblical scholars can’t even agree on whether the ark is aboveground or underground, then all this fussing about what’s on Ararat is almost certainly bunk. The place is fairly accessible (shepherds graze their livestock all over Ararat), and people have been passing around rumors that the ark is there for 100 years or better. Given all that, the thinness and contradictory nature of the documentation on the existence of the ark is, to me, the best evidence that the whole thing is smoke and mirrors. I just wanted to find out if there’s any basis in reality for some of the assertions made on the program I saw, such as whether’s there’s some kind of wooden box up there (regardless of it’s origin or original purpose). Apparently the _above_ground box is nothing more than myth. Nor do I have any faith in Skaill’s _under_ground box. I also have zero faith in the “story of the recreation of the Tabernacle that was made by some scientists in the USA…” which “…proved to be such a powerful collector of electricity it proved to be to dangerous to be near…” What crap! ---
**Author:** ![JTR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee59a6/32.png) [@JTR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JTR)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2000, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/noahs-ark-on-mt-ararat/32591/27 "2000-09-10T02:11:01Z")
Hey, JonF, Thanks for the links! It’s great material! Really excellent! It’s so nice to see some links to good old scientific analysis after all the hype and hyperbole from certain Bible scholars on some of these legends. When I see the fantastic claims coming from these types of Bible scholars, I inevitably conclude from the quality of the research that they’re bogus. But it’s hard to know how to refute these myths or even to figure out how they originated. Your posts here and in jabberwalkie’s thread on astrology in the “Comments on Cecil’s Columns” forum have been extremely helpful. I’m very grateful! ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2000, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/noahs-ark-on-mt-ararat/32591/28 "2000-09-10T11:54:05Z")
Dtilque: \<\< From what I understand, the word ark as used in the Bible basically meant box. The ark of the covenant was a box holding the ten commandments and some other holy items. And Noah’s ark was just a big waterproof box for holding animals. No keel or nothing. So why is everyone looking for a boat? \>\> I mentioned this recently in another thread on the Ark of the Covenant. The Hebrew word is _tabah_ and is used to refer to two (and only two) water-bound vehicles: Noah’s (translated “ark”) and infant Moses’ (translated as “basket of bullrushes”.) In both cases, there is indeed a sense of “box”, the steering is NOT done by the people in the box, they are at the mercy of the elements (steered by God, if you prefer, is certainly the implication of the text.) The other Hebrew word is _aron_, which also is used to mean a box, and gets translated “Ark” as in “Ark of the Covenant.” Different word, different concept in the original text. English version (KJV) associates Noah’s situation with Ark of the Covenant, rather than with Moses… and thus misses some of the poetical self-referencing. ---
**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2000, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/noahs-ark-on-mt-ararat/32591/29 "2000-09-10T13:47:16Z")
**Skaill** said: > [@](#): > > Well pictures do exist (and I just know your gonna tell me they are a hoax too 😉 sketchy though they may be can be found at this page I suspected, as soon as I saw that photo, that it was a simple geologic formation (much like the “face on Mars” or similar things). Then I got to JonF’s message and found that, indeed, I was right. Glad that’s taken care of. 🙂 Regarding the Jammal hoax, you said: > [@](#): > > Well he only got away with it for a while didn’t he, if that were not the case then his deceit would still be unknown, and he would have gotten away with it. No, you miss the entire point. He revealed _himself_. The point was not to hoax the country, but to hoax the producers to show that their research methods are nonexistent, and that pretty much anybody could come to the show and make up anything they wanted. In that, he fully succeeded. > [@](#): > > As for the other evidence on the show, if it were presented by other persons then surely it is not justifiable to assume that just because Jammal is proven to be a fraudster that other parties presenting evidence of they’re own on the same subject, should automatically be assumed to also be fraudsters. I never said they should. However, it should not be automatically assumed that everything there is real. As we saw, the producers basically did nothing to verify the claims, even though they promoted the show as if it were real scientific evidence and a news documentary. **JTR** asked: > [@](#): > > Is there in fact a big-ass box sitting on top of Ararat Quite simply: No. ---
**Author:** ![matt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@matt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2000, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/noahs-ark-on-mt-ararat/32591/30 "2000-09-10T16:13:40Z")
**Hijack:** Skaill said: **"A disposable camera flash mechanism, some aluminium foil, copper wire and a medium size capacitor are a proven experiment that you can collect static electricity from the surrounding air, sufficient to fire the flash intermittently so why not the structure of something else ?** Could you give more details or a link on how to do this? ---
**Author:** ![Skaill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/977dab/32.png) [@Skaill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skaill)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2000, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/noahs-ark-on-mt-ararat/32591/31 "2000-09-10T16:55:54Z")
Matt here ya go [http://203.23.131.2/freeenergy/mon.htm](http://203.23.131.2/freeenergy/mon.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2000, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/noahs-ark-on-mt-ararat/32591/32 "2000-09-10T17:31:37Z")
There’s a general rule of thumb here: Any webpage with the string “freeenergy” in the URL is very likely a load of hooey, unless it’s debunking free energy claims. Note that the webpage starts off “I haven’t yet finished building this device but my contact in Houston Texas assures me it will work”… OK, so let’s see a webpage by that unnamed contact in Houston about this miracle device. Even if this thing does work, its source of power is transmitted radio waves… Something which was not present in abundance in the days of the original Tabernacle. Nice try, though, Skaill. ---
**Author:** ![Skaill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/977dab/32.png) [@Skaill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skaill)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2000, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/noahs-ark-on-mt-ararat/32591/33 "2000-09-10T17:43:40Z")
Chronos I’d assumed it was collecting electrostatic, given that it goes off more frequently during storms, altough now you mention radio, that would presumably be given off during a storm also. Bet the Tabernacle saw a few storms. Been trying to get round to constructing one myself at some stage, to see if it goes off more often when the Northern Lights are giving a show. ---
**Author:** ![Skaill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/977dab/32.png) [@Skaill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skaill)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2000, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/noahs-ark-on-mt-ararat/32591/34 "2000-09-10T19:55:20Z")
Skaill said previously “Been trying to get round to constructing one myself at some stage, to see if it goes off more often when the Northern Lights are giving a show.” forgot to make it clear i was refering to constructing a free energy flashng device, Not a Tabernacle ! ---
**Author:** ![matt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@matt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2000, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/noahs-ark-on-mt-ararat/32591/35 "2000-09-10T22:16:28Z")
Interesting. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2000, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/noahs-ark-on-mt-ararat/32591/36 "2000-09-10T23:57:41Z")
I’m afraid whatever report you saw about the Noah’s ark being found was not accurate. There was a thread about this topic before: [What IF Noah’s Ark was found?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=22768) started by **pashley**. In that thread there was this post: > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by \*\*\*YHVH \*\* > I am afraid you will not find the Ark, for it is mounted on the wall of My rec room. So stop looking already! ---
**Author:** ![Danielinthewolvesden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Danielinthewolvesden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danielinthewolvesden)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2000, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/noahs-ark-on-mt-ararat/32591/37 "2000-09-11T03:01:55Z")
Well, the Ark of the Covenant in Ethiopa is likely very real, and also as likely a replica made by those who had never seen the original. It is also not impossible that thousands of years ago, someone built a replica Ark (Noahs) up on Mt Ararat (which is part of those Mts mentioned in the OT), and the ruins thereof is what folks are stumbling upon from time to time. There is no “noahs ark” to be found. Even if the story was literally true (unlikely), they would have broken the craft down for building materials. Oh, no doubt, that there was a huge flood, of some sort, that is the basis for the Flood “myth”, but that is about it, IMHO. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/noahs-ark-on-mt-ararat/32591.md?page=1)