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The
Quraan and Noah's Ark
Martin
Wroe, LONDON - Noah's Ark has been
found on the Turkish-Iranian border, 32
kilometres from Mount Ararat, according
to the leader of a team of scientists
that has been investigating the site for
six years.
The
Turkish government is so convinced by the
findings that, after years of
intransigence, it has designated the site
one of special archaeological interest
and agreed to its excavation next summer.
The
remote site contains a buried, ship-like
object, resting an altitude of 2,300
metres. At 170 metres long and 45 metres
wide, it conforms almost exactly to the
300 cubit by 50 cubit boat that God told
Noah to build, according to Genesis 6 in
the Bible.
On
surrounding terrain, the American and
Middle Eastern scientists have identified
huge stones with holes carved at one end,
which they believe are
"drogue-stones," dragged behind
ships in the ancient world to stabilise
them. Radar soundings indicate unusual
levels of iron-oxide distribution.
Salih
Bayraktutan, head of geology at Turkey's
Ataturk University, estimates the age of
the 'vessel' at more than 100,000 years.
"It is a man-made structure and for
sure it is Noah's Ark." The site is
directly below the mountain of Al Judi,
named in the Koran as the Ark's resting
place.
David
Fasold, an American shipwreck specialist
with no religious affiliation, has led
the investigation. He says subsurface
radar surveys of the site have produced
"very good pictures." "The
radar imagery at about 25 metres down
from the stern is so clear that you can
count the floorboards between the
walls."
He
believes the team has found the
fossilised remains of the upper deck and
that the original reed substructure has
disappeared. But the findings have
infuriated the scores of Christian
Ark-hunters who travel to Turkey,
convinced the Ark will only be found on
Mount Ararat.
Fasold,
who calls himself an
"Arkologist," also argues that
it was not a great flood that pushed the
Ark into the mountains. He says it was
"an astronomical event causing a
tectonic upheaval, a tidal bore causing
gravitational pull in the ocean waters
that forced the boat into the
mountains."
Some
of Fasold's team of geophysicists and
geologists are reserving final judgement
until the excavation and carbon-dating.
But in a British TV series on the
environment next month, team member
Vendyl Jones, a Middle East archaeologist
and inspiration for film character
Indiana Jones, says it is "between
maybe and probably" that they have
found Noah's Ark.
The
Observer newspaper, 16 January 1994
Prologue:
The Quranic verse detailing about the
resting place of the Noah's Ark is found
in Chapter Hood, verse 44 (Qur.aan
11:44). The verse says:
{When
the word went forth: "O earth!
swallow up thy water and O sky! withhold
(thy rain)!" and the water abated
and the matter was ended. The Ark rested
on Mount Judi and the word went forth:
"Away with those who do wrong!"}
The
49th verse of the same Chapter says:
{Such
are some of the stories of the Unseen
which We have revealed unto you: before
this neither you nor your people knew
them. So persevere patiently: for the end
is for those who are righteous}
This particular page is
on www.MuslimWorld.co.uk
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