A team of researchers says it has secured Turkish government permits to conduct what it describes as the most comprehensive scientific investigation ever attempted at a boat-shaped geological formation in eastern Turkey, a site some believe may be the biblical resting place of Noah's Ark.
Noah's Ark Scans, the organization behind the effort, announced that its Turkish partner obtained official authorization for extensive, non-destructive testing at the Durupinar Formation, an oblong mound located roughly 18 miles south of Mount Ararat, Turkey's tallest peak. The expedition is scheduled to begin later this year.
The team framed the authorization in sweeping terms. "This historic authorization marks the first time in modern history that a dedicated international team has been officially cleared to perform extensive, non-destructive investigations at the site using revolutionary new scanning and imaging technologies never before applied to this site," the group stated, as the Daily Mail reported.
The Durupinar Formation has been known to the modern world for less than a century. Local accounts say heavy rains and earthquakes in May 1948 washed away surrounding mud and exposed the formation's distinctive shape. Since 2019, a researcher identified as Jones and his team at Noah's Ark Scans have been exploring the mound using ground-penetrating radar and soil analysis.
Their findings, as reported so far, center on anomalies beneath the surface. Radar scans penetrated more than 20 feet below the site and captured what the team calls "a series of right angles" at roughly that depth. A void first appears about 14 feet below the surface and stretches more than 39 feet, the scans showed.
Jones told the Daily Mail that his team uncovered a tunnel that is not filled in and leads to a large central chamber. "The tunnel then drops another 26 feet, connecting to a massive central room that we're seeing in the radar scans," he said. "Our assumption is that this could be part of Noah's Ark, possibly the central hall and some of the decks. There's definitely something preserved underground."
Earlier underground scans at the suspected site had already drawn attention for revealing tunnel-like structures deep within the formation.
Jones pointed to soil analysis as additional evidence. He said soil inside the formation is less alkaline, contains more organic matter, and has higher potassium levels than soil outside the formation's boundaries.
"Tests show these soil differences (pH, organic matter and potassium) are real, with less than a five percent chance they're random, giving 95 percent confidence that something like a decayed wooden ship is causing them."
The New York Post reported that the Durupinar site is a 538-foot-long boat-shaped formation, and that a 2019 ground-penetrating radar scan detected rectangular shapes about 22 feet below the surface. Jones told the Post, "The soil tests suggest this formation isn't simply part of the surrounding mud flow, it's a distinct object."
Jones also argued that the formation's orientation defies natural explanation. "Naturally, an object would not form this way with the pointed end uphill," he said. "Per fluid dynamics, if this was an obstruction naturally forming around a rock in the earth or mud flow, then the pointed end would be downhill and the rounded end would be uphill."
The Bible describes Noah's Ark as 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high, approximately 515 feet long, 86 feet wide, and 52 feet tall. Jones has theorized that the structure's interior may have included a multi-level atrium. "Some people have theorized that Noah's Ark had a multi-level big atrium to let the light and air circulate between the three decks," he said.
The biblical account states that the ark came to rest on the "mountains of Ararat" after a 150-day flood. Jones drew a distinction between that description and the popular assumption that the ark landed on the summit of Mount Ararat itself.
"In the Biblical account, it doesn't say Noah's Ark landed on Mount Ararat; it says the mountains, plural, of Ararat. Back in those days, Ararat was an ancient kingdom. So it would be like saying today that Noah's Ark landed in the mountains of Colorado. It's referring to a region of mountains, not one specific peak, and our site fits within that location."
Christian tradition began identifying Mount Ararat in modern-day Turkey as the ark's resting place as early as the 4th century. The 1st-century Jewish historian Josephus wrote that remains of the ark were still visible in the mountains of Armenia, a claim that has fueled searches for centuries. A 440-year-old map and modern radar data have kept the question alive for researchers and believers alike.
The upcoming investigation will employ non-destructive core drilling, advanced remote-sensing technology, next-generation imaging systems, and an underground drone the team has named "Gopher." Preliminary findings are expected to be released as data is processed and verified, though no firm timeline for results has been given.
Jones told the Post that over the next few years, Turkish university partners will conduct non-destructive tests, including soil sampling, radar scans, and other methods, to determine whether the structures detected are truly man-made or natural formations. That measured language contrasts with the more sweeping rhetoric from the group's fundraising arm.
Lauren Witzke, identified as a fundraiser for Noah's Ark Scans, cast the expedition in explicitly theological terms:
"This is not merely a scientific expedition; this is confirmation that one of the most scoffed-at stories in history, Noah's Ark, is real, as is the God who inspired it and, in His wrath and mercy, sent the flood for which it was needed."
For all the confidence in the team's public statements, significant gaps remain. The name of the Turkish partner that secured the permits has not been disclosed. The Turkish government agency that issued the permits has not been identified, nor have permit numbers, dates, or terms been made public. Jones's full name and formal credentials are not provided in available reporting.
No excavation has taken place. The radar anomalies, soil chemistry, and formation shape are suggestive, but none of it constitutes proof of a man-made vessel, let alone the vessel described in Genesis. The team itself acknowledged as much when Jones said the plan is to "determine if the structures we've detected are truly man-made or simply natural formations."
That honest caveat deserves more attention than the headline-grabbing promise of "irrefutable proof." Biblical archaeology has a long history of dramatic claims that fade under scrutiny. The discovery of sites like biblical Bethsaida shows that rigorous fieldwork can yield genuine breakthroughs, but the rigor has to come first.
The data so far, right angles on radar, unusual soil chemistry, a formation that defies easy geological explanation, is interesting enough to justify the investigation. Whether it justifies the theological certainty already being attached to it is another matter entirely.
Faith doesn't need a press release. But if something is buried under that mound in eastern Turkey, honest science, not fundraising hype, is the only way to find out what it is.
