A boat-shaped formation in Turkey has fuelled claims about Noah’s Ark for decades. Now researchers investigating the site say they have found something unusual beneath it.
But have they actually found the biblical Ark? Not yet.
The Durupınar Formation sits around 20 miles south of Mount Ararat, where the Book of Genesis says Noah’s Ark came to rest after the flood. It already looks suspiciously like a ship from above.
Now radar scans have reportedly picked up straight lines, right-angle intersections and large spaces beneath the ground that researchers believe could be corridors or chambers.
Andrew Jones, whose Noah’s Ark Scans project is involved in the investigation, has gone as far as saying the latest work has “100 percent confirmed” the site is man-made.
That’s a huge claim, and one that hasn’t been independently established.
Researchers have not uncovered a wooden ship and there is currently no peer-reviewed study showing that the underground features were built by humans. So they’re digging deeper.
A team led by archaeologist Cenker Atila has collected around 1,000 soil samples from 150 locations and begun core drilling at the site.
The plan is to eventually send a specially designed robot, called Gopher, into spaces beneath the formation. The robot will take video and collect samples from places researchers can’t safely reach themselves.
Durupınar has fascinated Ark hunters since it was identified in aerial photographs in 1959. Its roughly 160-metre length has also attracted attention because it is close to some estimates of the Ark’s dimensions described in Genesis.
2026-09-25 00:33:00
