Turkey drilling team reports charred wood at boat-shaped Durupinar site
The gist
A Turkish-led team drilling at the 515-foot Durupinar Formation reports charred wood fragments and chamber-like structures.
Lab dating is pending; geologists call the site a natural rock formation.
How it unfolded
- 1948 -05Heavy rainfall and seismic activity washed away covering mud, revealing the Durupinar Formation, later found by a Kurdish shepherd.
- 1959Captain Ilhan Durupinar discovered the 515-foot-long, boat-shaped formation through aerial photography in the Mount Ararat region.
- 2024Soil tests found organic material inside the structure nearly three times the amount outside it.
Key terms
- Durupinar Formation
- A 164-metre limonite geological formation on Mount Tendürek in eastern Turkey, promoted by some as the petrified ruins of Noah's Ark.
- radiocarbon dating
- A method of determining the age of organic material by measuring its radioactive carbon-14 content.
- Genesis 8:4
- A verse in the biblical flood story stating that Noah's ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.
Source: Wikipedia