What Happened To Noah's Ark?

Noah's ark is one of the most recognizable stories in the world. It tells the tale of a man named Noah, whom god told to build a huge ark, gather all the animals in the world in male and female pairs, and board the ark in preparation for a great flood. There are those who believe the tale of Noah's ark is not just a fable found in many cultures. Biblical literalists believe that the bible is 100 percent true, and that includes the story of Noah and the great flood. Many scholars believe that the story of Noah's ark was inspired by the ancient flood stories of Mesopotamia, specifically the epic of Gilgamesh. There are some archaeologists who say that there is evidence to suggest that there may have been a great flood right around the time that Noah was said to have built the ark. Of course, this is a story in the bible we're talking about. So there are many skeptics who say the ark was nothing more than a story, a metaphor for faith, struggle and triumph. The question has puzzled scholars and scientists for centuries. Is the story of Noah's ark simply an allegorical metaphor, or could it have been an actual boat? There have been quite a few expeditions that claim to have found evidence of the ark, which we will discuss in this video. There have also been scientists and archaeologists who claim they've found evidence of a great flood. If Noah's ark wasn't just a story, then surely there has to be evidence that proves the ark was a real boat. Today, life's biggest questions asks, what happened to Noah's ark? Hello and welcome back to life's biggest questions, the channel that asks the fundamental questions of life. I'm your host, charlotte dobre. Before I get into this video, this is just a friendly reminder to show this channel some love by leaving a thumbs up, subscribing and letting us know in the comments below a question you have always wanted to know the answer to. As a way to increase involvement in the life's biggest questions community, the hosts respond to users comments at the end of the video, so make sure you stick around until the end to see if your comment got featured. Alright, let's get into this question. First, a brief history of Noah's ark. In the old testament, or the Hebrew bible, in the story of the genesis flood in genesis 8.4, god plans to purge the world of sin. Noah had 3 children. He was also apparently about to celebrate his 600th birthday. This isn't an unusual statement in genesis. In the early chapters, there are accounts of people living to be 700 or 800 years old. But the numbers are not real, they are mythic numbers that some experts believe are meant to reinforce the mystery of the text. God says that he will spare Noah, his family and all the world's animals who are innocent of sin from a devastating flood that will engulf the entire world. God made the flood due to his regret over how great the wickedness of the human race had become on earth. God gave Noah instructions for building the ark, which was 300 egyptian cubits in length, 50 cubits in width and 30 cubits in height, which translates to 450 feet by 75 feet by 45 feet. 7 days before the flood, god told Noah to board the ark with his family and the animals he had gathered. A devastating flood comes to purge the earth, and the ark stays afloat for 150 days. Legend has it, as the waters receded, the ark ended up on the mountains of Ararat. The actual location of the mountains of Ararat is in the eastern Anatolia region of Turkey, between the provinces of Agri and Igdir, near the Iranian and Armenian borders. Noah's ark and its final resting place is not only mentioned in the bible, other separate sources speak of it. For example, the famous explorer Marco Polo spoke of Noah's ark in his book, the travels of Marco Polo. He wrote, In the heart of the Armenian mountain range, the mountain range is shaped like a cube or cup on which Noah's ark is said to have rested. Whence it is called the mountain of Noah's ark. The story of Noah's ark is not only in the hebrew bible, there is also a version of it in the quran, and there is also mention of a similar story in ancient Mesopotamian text. Like in the epic of Gilgamesh, a Mesopotamian flood story that was passed down centuries before the bible even existed. In this story, the gods sent a flood to wipe out the humans. The gods chose one man to survive the flood. He built a boat and put all the animals on it, and following the flood, he ends up on a mountain. Pretty strikingly similar if you ask me. Alright, so what about the whole great flood thing? Did it actually happen? Surely, there has to be scientific evidence for a great flood. Well, interestingly, the story of a great flood exists in many different cultures around the world. Sumerians had their own version, found in the epic of Zusudra. There are tales of a flood myth that originate in China, India, Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines. The Greeks told ancient flood myths, the Vikings, and ancient Irish and Welsh people. That's a lot of different cultures that developed independently of each other. Some would say that where there's smoke, there's fire. Could it be that all of these cultures were simply telling similar stories, or is there more to it? Perhaps a singular source. Robert Ballard, one of the world's best known underwater archaeologists, claims he may have found evidence of a great flood. Ballard found the titanic wreck in 1985, so he's got a pretty good track record. While probing the black sea, off the coast of Turkey, he said he and his team found traces of an ancient civilization that dates back to the time of Noah. He said that 12 thousand years ago, much of the world was covered in ice. Once that ice started to melt, well, there was obviously flooding. The question is though, was there one great flood? According to a theory published by two Columbia university scientists, there was a great flood in the area surrounding Turkey. What is now the black sea was once a freshwater lake. It became the black sea because of rising water from the mediterranean sea. And we're talking a huge flood that had the force of 200 times that of Niagara falls. The flood wiped out everything in its path, up to 150 thousand square kilometers of land went under. The evidence for this flood is an ancient shoreline that was found 400 feet below sea level. Carbon dating of shells put the flood at around 5000 BC, the time when many believe the great flood took place. Perhaps the great flood was not a flood that enveloped the entire world, but simply took place in the region where Noah was said to have lived. We experience floods in modern day, why couldn't Noah have experienced a flood thousands of years ago. So now that you know that a great flood could have happened, what about the ark? Is there any evidence of the ark being found? There have been many attempts to find Noah's ark. The first recorded search was 275 to 339 CE, up until present day. Expeditions and searches have taken place throughout history. Furthermore, there have also been people who have claimed to have found Noah's ark over the years. In eastern Turkey, a boat like formation was exposed after heavy rainfalls and earthquakes in 1948. Turkish army captain Ilhan Darupinar identified the formation in an aerial photo during a NATO mapping mission in 1959. Photographs of the formation were published in Life magazine in 1960. According to the article, the shape looked like the hull of a ship. One end was pointed, as you would expect, from bow, and the opposite was blunt, like stern. The distance from bow to stern was 300 egyptian cubits, or 515 feet. The average width was 50 cubits. These were the exact measurements of the ark mentioned in the bible. The discovery was later debunked because the formation was found to be nothing more than a geological formation. The boat shape came about as a result of an earthquake in 1948 that exposed a rock. In June 2006, Bob Cornuke of the bible archaeology search and exploration institute took a team of archaeologists to a site in the Alborz mountains. They said they found an object 13 thousand feet above sea level that had the look of blackened petrified wood beams that was 400 feet long or 300 cubits, consistent with the measurements in the bible. There was also apparently fossilized sea creatures within the petrified wood. But these past discoveries are no comparison to this next discovery. Recently, in 2017, professors of theology and science announced they had found actual evidence of Noah's ark on the very mountain that it was said to have perched. Mount Ararat is in northeastern Turkey. Its actually now called Agri mountain. Eyewitness accounts of a large wooden structure that appears to be in the shape of a boat have been rampant for centuries. Chinese and Turkish researchers also claim to have found an ark like structure there in 2010. Researcher professor Paul Esperante heard of these accounts and went to mount Ararat with a team of 108 researchers. They announced they were 99 percent sure they had found Noah's ark. Near the peak of the mountain, they found 7 large wooden compartments buried at 13 thousand feet above sea level. How crazy is that? Why was there a gigantic wooden structure right on the top of mount Ararat, the tallest peak in Turkey, and the exact place the bible said was the ark's final resting place. And to make matters even more amazing, radiocarbon dated wood from the site puts the wooden structure at 48 hundred years old, which coincides roughly with the time of the great flood in the book of genesis. Mind officially blown. The researchers presented their evidence at the international symposium of mount Ararat, Noah's ark in Agri. Of course, like with any discovery, there are skeptics. Its hard for many to believe that the wood from the ark could have survived thousands of years following a flood. Other skeptics say the ark, if it had actually existed, must have been torn apart and used for building materials. Regardless, the Turkish government plans to turn the site into a heritage site on the UNESCO world heritage list, which is a title given to places of cultural significance. So what does science have to say about the story of Noah's ark? Unfortunately, there is no scientific evidence that there was a global catastrophic flood. That doesn't mean that a flood in the area didn't take place, it just means there is no evidence of a global catastrophic flood that god told Noah to prepare the ark for. Furthermore, and this goes without saying, how is it even possible for all the animals on earth to live on an ark together for 150 days without eating each other? I know y'all have seen life of pi. Until further evidence is discovered, Noah's ark and the tale of the great flood is just a story. Do you think Noah's ark was a real boat? Let us know in the comments below. For now, its that fun part of the video where I'm going to respond to some of your comments. Why do I waste my time making useless random videos? Set. Is it possible to get pregnant while you're pregnant? And also, would they be twins, or one baby come out and the other baby stay in? That is a really good question. Even though you would think that while a woman is pregnant, she cant get pregnant again, it is possible to get pregnant while you're pregnant, but its very rare. A woman can ovulate while she is already pregnant, and that egg can then become fertilized. Getting pregnant while already pregnant is called superfutation, and it occurs in other mammals like badgers. As for the second question, I guess it would depend on when the second egg was fertilized. Austin Chapman – love the video and I'm also a potato. Thanks for subscribing to both life's biggest questions and inform overload. For those that don't know, life's biggest questions is a sister channel to inform overload. Definitely subscribe to IO if you need a place to get your news. Tay West – this is a good video. Hey thanks tay, glad you like our content. Christian Hernandez – I feel smarter every time I watch your videos. Oh that's just precious. I guess we're doing something right. Master Momo – what if Canada was real. As we are based in Canada, and we are currently recording this video in Toronto, I am fairly certain that Canada is real. Stingray – does everyone deserve a second chance. Depends on what that person did, but I would say yes, everyone deserves a second chance. Thank you for watching life's biggest questions. If you enjoyed this video, don't forget to show this channel some love by hitting the thumbs up, subscribing and turning on notifications by clicking the bell. Do you want to go on a life's biggest question binge? Of course you do. Well, we've put together a nifty playlist that's clickable on the screen right now. That is all for this video, thanks for watching life's biggest questions.