Drilling begins at ‘Noah’s Ark’ web site as researchers probe Turkey’s controversial Durupinar formation

Researchers have begun drilling right into a mysterious, boat-shaped formation within the mountains of jap Turkey, hoping an underground robotic will unearth the reply to one in every of biblical historical past’s greatest mysteries.

Members of the Noah’s Ark Scans expedition consider the Durupinar formation, positioned in jap Turkey close to Mount Ararat, may mark the ultimate resting place of the vessel described in Genesis.

“Good morning from the outer rims of Noah’s ark,” the undertaking’s advertising and fundraising director, divisive Christian activist Lauren Witzke, wrote in a Tuesday replace.

“Core drilling has begun and the big bang evolutionists are already in damage control mode,” she continued.

Witzke stated the expedition had Turkish authorities approval and oversight from native universities, with “some of the most brilliant minds in the world” collaborating.

She made the sensational declare that, “When we are done, university curricula will need to be rewritten, and Darwinism will be dismantled.”

“This is the place where creation began anew,” she enthused.

Witzke is a controversial determine in American politics.

The former Senate candidate is a self-proclaimed “flat-earther,” has voiced assist for the right-wing conspiracy concept QAnon, and as soon as known as the Covid vaccine a “satantic plot.”

But whereas Witzke handles publicity for the staff, it contains bona fide archaeologists and geologists from world wide, comparable to Project Director Dr. Cenker Atila, from Turkey’s Sivas Cumhuriyet University.

A chequered historical past

An extended line of researchers have visited the controversial “ark” through the years and drawn very completely different conclusions.

The Durupinar formation was formally found in 1959, when a Turkish Army captain captured it in an aerial photograph whereas mapping the realm.

Local researchers carried out surveying, digging and dynamiting, however couldn’t discover any archaeological proof and concluded that the formation was a pure anomaly.

Modern geologists agree, broadly viewing the location as a boat-shaped ridge made from limestone and volcanic clay that was sculpted by erosion.

After that preliminary probe, the “ark” lay dormant till the Eighties, when American salvage professional David Fasold used ground-penetrating radar to look at the location and have become satisfied he was trying on the fossilized stays of a ship’s higher deck.

Fasold measured the size of the formation as 164 meters, near the 300-cubit (157-meter) size of the ark quoted within the Bible.

There was additionally the matter of the “drogue stones”: giant carved stones scattered northwest of the location — with holes lower by means of their higher ends — which he believed had been historic sea anchors, lower free from the ark when the flood receded.

Skeptics argue the stones are merely historic memorial markers or tombstones.

Years after his work at Durupinar, Fasold appeared to have a change of coronary heart; publicly repudiating the ark concept as “absolute BS.”

But his Australian pal and biographer June Dawes maintained that he went to his grave believing he had discovered the ark.

What is the 2026 expedition doing?

In current years the location has been probed with ground-penetrating radar once more; this time by the Noah’s Ark Scans expedition, which claims it has “already mapped what looks like corridors and chambers under the surface, including one hallway that runs more than 250 feet.”

The subsequent step can be to “drill narrow cores down into those spaces and send in Gopher, an underground robot built to go where a person cannot,” in line with the group’s fundraising web page.

Gopher has been geared up to gather high-resolution footage and soil samples underneath the floor.

It was designed by an Australian engineer: Dr Robert Ross from La Trobe University.

“The robot was basically repurposed based on a robot that I originally built for wildlife ecologists to explore wombat burrows (WomBot) and Armadillo Burrows in French Guiana (ArmaBot),” Dr Ross advised information.com.au.

The Noah’s Ark Scans fundraiser stated the undertaking required USD$600,000 (A$843,000) to start drilling.

As of Tuesday, it had solely raised a small fraction of that; however drone footage shared by Witzke appeared to indicate that drilling had commenced.

The expedition is now racing towards the onset of winter, which can freeze the bottom and power researchers to cease operations till subsequent yr.

It might be a matter of time earlier than Gopher settles the long-debated thriller of Durupinar for good.