00:00Under the university project, the first thing we did in July, we brought out an Izmir survey company
00:06and they made a 3D map, a base map for the area.
00:10They used drones, they surveyed the land, and so we have a very exact model of what the site is
00:16looking like right now.
00:18After that, we brought in an American scientist who has a new type of radar to scan the surface deep
00:24below the surface.
00:25And we did that in August.
00:27And then we started soil sampling, and that culminated in the soil core drilling program a couple weeks ago
00:35where we had a core drilling machine drilling down inside the site to get soil samples deep inside the boat
00:42shape.
00:42The field work has already ended, and so what we're focused now on is actually getting the soil and rocks
00:49tested
00:50at Ancora University Laboratory and other labs, and then from there we'll write up the reports.
00:55So we will not be finished until probably April or May next year.
01:01I think we're very excited to obtain these soil samples deep in the earth because we have seen highly enriched
01:08organic soil,
01:09very black, dark soil down below the surface.
01:12Of course, we need to test it to see if there's any evidence for decayed wood or human activity.
01:18Right now, we're just gathering the data in the field.
01:21My initial assessment is that we're moving in the right direction.
01:26This has never been done before.
01:27We've never tested soil deep inside the site.
01:30And so we have to go through this process first before we can make any claims about what is below
01:36the surface.
01:37Can I add to that?
01:38Of course.
01:39So the reason why we're focused in on this site and not another site is because when this was first
01:45discovered
01:45by a Turkish army captain, Ilhan Durupanar, in 1959, it was the boat shape that got everyone's attention.
01:53It went around the world in 1959, 1960.
01:56And since that time, different researchers have come out here and done non-destructive scanning.
02:01But this is the first time with a government permit that the university is able to look below the surface
02:08and see what's going on because everyone in the past has mainly focused on scanning the boat.
02:14And because we want to see what's going on below the surface, we've got a permit to core drill.
02:19So as we know, the internet has many claims about different topics, including Noah's Ark.
02:24And some people want to make a statement before we gather all the facts.
02:29And so, yes, you'll find people in news organizations around the world
02:33who will make different statements thinking it's fact.
02:36Some people say it's 100% confirmed.
02:38Other people will make claims about what we discovered, but we've never told them this information.
02:43So I want to say that from our perspective, we're continuing the study
02:48because we have the lab work still to do and the final reports to write.
02:53And so we're not finished.
02:54So we can't make that type of statement until we're finished.
02:57Yes, for our studies, for this season's data that we gathered, the professor has suggested
03:03that it will probably take through the winter months to gather all the soil information,
03:08the radar data, and then combine that and analyze it and write the report.
03:12And because he's also a teacher at the university, this will all take time.
03:16So we're looking at April or May of next year as an estimated time to do the final report.
03:22Any new, like, discoveries or...?
03:25No more.
03:26Right now, the biggest thing we've discovered is that the site is not solid rock.
03:31When we were core drilling, you know, some people who say it's a natural formation
03:34have suggested that it's solid rock, and then it got shaped over millions of years into a boat shape.
03:41But with the core drilling, that's the biggest thing we found was it's all soil.
03:45There are some boulders in the site, but the core drilling machine was pulling up soil samples.
03:51Yes, I'm originally from Northern California, so it's a very popular state in America.
03:58But I actually came over here my first time 30 years ago in 1997.
04:03In the middle college, a friend of mine said I needed to come with him because he was going
04:08to come see Noah's Ark, and I heard about this as a child from an American explorer named Ron Wyatt.
04:14He came out here in the 1980s.
04:15He was doing research at the site, and he came to California and did a presentation, and I heard that.
04:22My father heard about it, and so I wanted to see it myself.
04:26So you could say Ron Wyatt was the inspiration, and then my friend told me I had to come see
04:31it,
04:31so I went with my friend here in 1997.
04:33Yeah, I can also mention that preliminary radar results are showing interesting what they call
04:40anomalies, meaning these are not usually natural objects or structure below the surface.
04:48And we're still waiting for the final report, which should come out in a couple months,
04:52from the radar scientist from America.
04:54And according to him, there are structure below the surface that suggest non-natural origin.
05:02So this is why we were core drilling.
05:05We were trying to get to those depths and get samples.
05:08We don't know if we hit the samples.
05:10You know, we're going to find out in the laboratory.
05:12But that was the other thing.
05:14Besides the core drilling, it was the radar that was showing that there are stuff anomalies
05:21below the surface that we need to further investigate.
05:24I think when you look at this site, the first thing you want to figure out is what is the
05:29shape?
05:30Why is the shape there?
05:31Is it a natural shape?
05:32Is it caused because of man-made structure that's decayed away?
05:37If you look at other ancient ships around the world, they leave a similar imprint.
05:42They leave similar type of structures below the ground.
05:46And the wood decays away.
05:48And then you just have the shape left.
05:50Ancient Greek and Roman ships are similar.
05:53To say this is Noah's Ark, you're not going to find a sign that says Noah's Ark.
05:58But you're going to look at the different conclusions, the lines of evidence.
06:02One you have, according to the holy books, in the Bible, it says that it was 300 cubits long.
06:08This one is exactly 300 cubits long.
06:11So now you have a shape of a ship that matches the length given in one of the holy books.
06:17On top of that, you're in the right location, according to the Torah and the Bible, when it
06:24says the mountains of Ararat.
06:25And so now you're in the right location with a ship-looking object that's exactly the size.
06:31And so that should give you, should make you more interested.
06:35Okay, well maybe this is it.
06:37What is left of the ship, if it was a ship?
06:39So I don't expect to see a preserved, like complete ship below the ground.
06:45What we're looking for is in the soil.
06:47That's why the soil sampling is so important, because you can maybe find evidence of human
06:52activity, animals that maybe are not from this area, a massive amount of decayed organic
07:00matter, because Noah's Ark was made of wood.
07:03So that's what we're studying and trying to figure out.
07:05Yeah, as I mentioned earlier, you're not going to find a sign that says Nuhung-Gimsi or Noah's
07:10Ark.
07:11So you have to use the different lines of evidence.
07:14So it comes back down to the measurements.
07:16If you can prove that it's not natural, but it's human-made, or there was something man-made
07:23below, then your next question is, well, what type of structure was it?
07:27Was it a ship-shaped building, a barn for animals, or was it really a ship for Noah and
07:32the animals?
07:33And so that's where you look at the evidence itself.
07:37So when it comes down to it, it will always be decided by how you're going to make that
07:42final step.
07:43If you find evidence that this is a ship that decayed, and it's sitting there, and there's
07:48soil covering it, and it's exactly the length given in the holy books, then the next question
07:55is, well, what other ship would it be?
07:57There is no lake near here.
07:59There's no, right now I don't see a lake.
08:01There's no water nearby.
08:03So someone then would have built a ship here.
08:05So we're trying to prove that it's not natural.
08:08We're looking for evidence.
08:10That's what we're doing right now.
08:11It could be natural.
08:12It could be man-made.
08:13And we're looking for that.
08:14I think the biggest thing is when you look at the critics, almost 100% say it's some type
08:20of rock, some type of kayak, this rock formation.
08:24They say it's either limestone rock that came down from the mountain top and came here and
08:30then got shaped into a ship, or they say it's bedrock coming up from the surface and mud went
08:35around the bedrock.
08:36And then others say it's a sincline of folded rock layers of sedimentary rock.
08:41So all the critics are claiming some type of rock is involved.
08:44But when we did the radar scans in August last month, and when we did the core drilling
08:50this month, there's no bedrock there.
08:52The object itself is not solid rock.
08:55And we've encountered some boulders here and there, but we did 12 cores into the site,
09:02scattered at different locations, and nowhere below the surface are we finding a solid piece
09:07of rock.
09:08So I think that's the biggest thing.
09:09If the critics want to claim it's rock, now we will show evidence that it's not a solid
09:15rock.
09:15So then the next thing would be, well, then what is it?
09:18And maybe they'll have another theory.
09:20But for us, we're still doing our research, and we hope that it'll be good for Turkey and
09:25the world if it's really true.
09:27So anyways, we're doing our best to do the research, but the results are not final.
09:32So we're still doing the testing.
