A researcher working near Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey says new scan data has revealed tunnel-like structures buried inside a boat-shaped landform that his team believes may be the remains of Noah's Ark. Andrew Jones, a researcher with Noah's Ark Scans, told Fox News that the latest findings strengthen the case that the formation is a manmade object, not a geological accident.
The claim centers on a formation first discovered in 1959, situated in a remote stretch of Turkish terrain just a mile from the Iranian border. For decades, the site has drawn both fascination and skepticism. Now Jones and his colleagues say they have fresh evidence, underground corridors, distinct soil composition, and structural patterns, that they argue point toward something built, not born of nature.
Whether this amounts to proof or another chapter in a long-running archaeological debate, the findings deserve a fair hearing. And the details Jones has put forward are, at minimum, specific enough to warrant serious scrutiny.
Jones described the new findings during an appearance on "Fox & Friends First" on Wednesday. He said the research team's scans detected tunnels roughly four meters below the surface and about two meters high, running down the center of the formation and along what he called the inside edge of its hull shape.
As Fox News Digital reported, Jones laid out his case plainly:
"Our new research has shown that there are tunnels about four meters down and about two meters high, going down the center of the boat and on the inside edge of the hull shape."
He went further, saying the layout suggested something deliberate.
"We really believe that this layout, showing tunnels and also possible support beams and walls, would suggest that it's a manmade object and not just a natural formation."
Jones also pointed to soil testing as a second line of evidence. He said the soil inside the formation contained three times more organic matter than soil sampled immediately outside it, a distinction he argued makes the site a "distinct object and not just part of the mountainside."
The boat-shaped landform was first identified in 1959. Its outline has long intrigued researchers and believers alike, though mainstream archaeology has generally treated the site with caution or outright dismissal. The formation sits near Mount Ararat, also known as Agri Mountain, in the Agri province of eastern Turkey, a region that Genesis identifies as the resting place of Noah's Ark after the floodwaters receded.
The site's remoteness adds a layer of difficulty. Perched just a mile from the Iranian border, it is not easy to access, and the logistics of sustained research there are formidable. Jones acknowledged that the next phase of work would involve sending a robot into the detected tunnels to film the interior and collect samples, a cautious approach rather than an immediate excavation.
The Noah's Ark Scans website explains why the team is proceeding carefully. Archaeology, the site notes, is a "destructive science." Once material is removed from a dig, it cannot be replaced. The team's stated priority is gathering the best possible data before breaking ground.
"Once you dig a hole and remove material, you can't put it back. Having the best data as to where to excavate is key, and that is where geophysical scans and core drilling come into play.... Excavations would follow after this is done."
Jones and Noah's Ark Scans are not the only researchers who have taken an interest in this site. Newsmax reported that researchers from Istanbul Technical University, Agri Ibrahim Cecen University, and Andrews University have been studying the Durupinar Formation, as the site is formally known, as part of the Mount Ararat and Noah's Ark Research Team since 2021. That team has described the formation as a 538-foot, ship-like mound lying about 20 miles south of Mount Ararat's summit.
Their rock and soil samples reportedly contained clay-like materials, marine deposits, and seafood remnants dated to roughly 3,500 to 5,000 years ago, a timeframe that aligns with the biblical account of a catastrophic flood. The researchers stated that their studies "show that this region harbored life in that period and that, at some point, it was covered by water, which reinforces the possibility that a catastrophic event of great magnitude occurred."
Prof. Dr. Faruk Kaya told The Jerusalem Post that initial results suggest human activities in the region dating to the Chalcolithic period. That detail adds another dimension: not just a flood, but habitation before it.
The New York Post reported that the site's length, roughly 515 feet, matches the measurement of 300 Egyptian cubits, which researchers link to the Bible's description of the Ark's dimensions. Ground-penetrating radar and infrared studies reportedly revealed corridors and a central cavity beneath the ship-shaped outline.
Soil samples taken in 2024 showed the interior of the formation had three times more organic matter and 38 percent more potassium than soil outside it. Those numbers track closely with what Jones described in his Fox News appearance, providing independent corroboration of the organic-matter disparity.
Jones told GB News that the tunnels follow a pattern consistent with a preserved hull shape deep in the soil. The Post noted, however, that some of the findings could have natural explanations, including tectonic uplift, a fair caveat that the researchers themselves have not dismissed outright.
For all the specificity of Jones's claims, significant questions remain. The scanning method and equipment used to detect the tunnels have not been described in detail. No independent archaeologists or geologists were named in the Fox News report as having reviewed or endorsed the findings. No formal peer-reviewed study has been cited.
The soil comparison, three times more organic matter inside versus outside, is striking, but without knowing which lab conducted the analysis or what methodology was used, outside experts will have difficulty evaluating the claim. The same applies to the marine deposits and seafood remnants described by the university-affiliated team.
Jones himself has been candid about the challenge ahead. He told Fox News:
"I do believe that this is the real, decayed, buried remains of Noah's Ark, the famous ship. And we're doing our best to convince the skeptics and show the world this site."
That framing, "convince the skeptics", is honest about where the burden of proof sits. The researchers know they are making an extraordinary claim, and they appear to understand that extraordinary evidence is required.
Mainstream institutions have spent decades treating biblical archaeology as somewhere between a curiosity and a punchline. The reflexive dismissal says less about the evidence than about the biases of the people doing the dismissing. If a team of researchers finds structural anomalies, distinct soil chemistry, marine remnants, and dimensions matching an ancient text, all at a site near the location that text identifies, the intellectually honest response is to investigate further, not to wave it away.
That does not mean the case is closed. It means the case deserves the same rigor and open-mindedness that the scientific establishment claims to value. Send the robot in. Collect the samples. Publish the data. Let the evidence speak.
Millions of people around the world take the biblical flood account seriously. They are not asking for a free pass, just a fair look. If the scans hold up, the skeptics will have some explaining to do. If they don't, the researchers will have been transparent enough to let the chips fall. Either way, that's how honest inquiry is supposed to work.
