A project searching for Noah’s Ark says it has received Turkish government approval for its most advanced investigation yet at the Durupinar site in eastern Turkey, near Mount Ararat. The team says it will use non-destructive core drilling, remote sensing, advanced imaging and an underground drone called “Gopher” to map what lies below, with the stated goal of finding evidence that the formation is the resting place of Noah’s Ark.
The claim remains unproven and is not a scientific consensus. Many geologists and archaeologists still regard Durupinar as a natural geological formation rather than an ancient vessel. The renewed interest follows earlier ground-penetrating radar scans, which the team says revealed angular structures, large voids and tunnel-like passages more than 6 meters underground.
Researcher Andrew Jones has argued that the site’s pointed end faces uphill, not downhill as one would expect if it were a mud-formed natural structure around a rock. The team also says it identified a subsurface cavity starting a little over 4 meters down, extending about 12 meters to a large rock, then dropping another 8 meters into a broader central chamber that could have been an interior corridor or room.
The site’s appeal is also tied to biblical measurements. Genesis describes the ark as 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high, roughly 157 meters by 26 meters by 16 meters, and supporters say Durupinar matches those proportions. The team also points to soil samples, saying the interior is less alkaline, richer in organic material and higher in potassium, with Jones saying the odds of the difference being random are under 5 percent. Critics say such anomalies do not prove human construction and may still have natural explanations. The next expedition is expected later this year, with findings to be released gradually after processing and verification.
