1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Revealed in upcoming episodes of this program are the contents of a recently unearthed, 2 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:37,000 repository classified by the secret government, the Phenomenon Archives. 3 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:07,000 From sand and earth has emerged much of the hidden truth of man's development. 4 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:14,000 Stories long thought to be legend have been proven through archaeological findings. 5 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:21,000 Though there is an occasional misrepresentation, for the most part we don't doubt archaeologists. 6 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:27,000 The story is a long story, but it's a long story. 7 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:32,000 Stories long thought to be legend have been proven through archaeological findings. 8 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:37,000 Though there is an occasional misrepresentation, for the most part we don't doubt archaeologists. 9 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:41,000 We would prefer to revel in the odyssey of our own beginnings. 10 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:47,000 Ambition led Ron Wyatt to his personal crossroads with a biblical tale known to every schoolchild. 11 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:51,000 Twenty-two years later he still doesn't have all the proof that some would demand, 12 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:58,000 but the mystery of the boat-like shape on the side of a mountain in Turkey has made Ron a celebrity. 13 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:04,000 But in the field of archaeology, celebrity comes at a price. 14 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:09,000 There's a real soft place in the earth right under it. 15 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:16,000 On June 16th, 1987, Ron Wyatt and a documentary film team from the United States 16 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:22,000 traveled to eastern Turkey at the invitation of the governor of the Turkish province of Agri. 17 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:29,000 There they participate in a ceremony at the base of a site known locally as Dunesday Mountain. 18 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:34,000 A ceremony of commemoration marking not only this now historic region, 19 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:41,000 but the apex of 27 years of painstaking and sometimes life-threatening research. 20 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:48,000 On June 20th, 1987, the governor of Agri proclaims to the world that the Turkish archaeological authorities 21 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:54,000 confirmed the findings of the Ron Wyatt expedition and declare the area under investigation 22 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:59,000 the landing site of the legendary Noah's Ark. 23 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:08,000 Ron's contribution to this discovery earns him VIP status as he actively participates in the dedication of the site. 24 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:15,000 The traditional sacrifice of a lamb sanctifies this holy place as the governor drops the first shovel of concrete 25 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:22,000 into the inaugural footing of what will become a multicultural, interfaith visitors' center and park. 26 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:29,000 Here, all may gaze upon what experts believe to be the final resting place of Noah's Ark. 27 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:48,000 Not everyone addresses Wyatt's work with enthusiasm. Biblical archaeological digest seems to consider him either a fraud or a conman. 28 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:54,000 Many over the years have attempted to detract from his findings, but the real mystery in Wyatt's story 29 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:59,000 is what inspires a family man with a perfectly normal life to travel halfway around the world 30 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:04,000 in search of something that's been missing and presumed lost for thousands of years. 31 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:23,900 The 32 00:04:23,900 --> 00:04:32,000 Although precise dating of military intelligence photographs is top secret information, researchers have learned that prior to 1960, 33 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:39,000 on the mountains of Ararat, while on a routine military reconnaissance survey, Turkish Air Force Lieutenant A. Kurtz 34 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:45,000 took an aerial photograph of a curious boat-shaped object. 35 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:52,000 Subsequent review by Turkish photographic specialists confirmed the dimensions of this object to be virtually identical 36 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:59,000 to those stated in the Old Testament as the length and roughly the width of the famous DeLuvian vessel. 37 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:07,000 In 1960, news of these photos reaches the United States. They are brought before the Archaeological Research Foundation, 38 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:11,000 an advanced group of scientists and explorers. 39 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:17,000 Under the aegis of the Turkish military, a joint Turkish-American expedition is assembled. 40 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:21,000 Wilbur Bishop, a member of the 1960 expedition. 41 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:27,000 The trip to Doga Basit started, of course, in Ankara. 42 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:35,000 We flew the Turkish airline to Asrum. We went from there to Doga Basit. 43 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:47,000 The Turkish people knew what we were talking about, of course, and we went by the van over to this camp, 44 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:56,000 which is right near the entrance to Persia. And there we rode horseback over to the site. 45 00:05:56,000 --> 00:06:04,000 The area is a hotbed of terrorism and conflict. With neighbors like Iraq, Iran and Soviet Georgia, 46 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:09,000 Turkish soldiers accompanied the expedition to assure their safe passage to and from the region. 47 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:13,000 Well, we got off of the horses and we looked down and could see it right from there. 48 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:20,000 We was about, I guess, 500 feet from the site, on the side of the hill. 49 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:28,000 We walked down from there. We had to jump several crevices in the earth from the earthquakes that had happened. 50 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:30,000 All of us thought it was a boat. 51 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:37,000 Dr. Arthur Brandenberger, a stereophotogrammetry expert, accompanies the group to the region. 52 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:41,000 After studying the object and comparing the measurements to those in the aerial photos, 53 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:42,000 he states, 54 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:50,000 I have no doubt at all that the object is a ship. In my entire career, I have never seen an object like this on a stereo photo. 55 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:59,000 The rest of the team remain unconvinced. Their disappointment over a lack of substantiating evidence impels them toward extreme measures. 56 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:01,000 Wilbur Bishop. 57 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:08,000 I asked Colonel Backel if he had some dynamite. He says, no, but we got plenty of black powder. 58 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:10,000 And so I told him, go get it. 59 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:20,000 Following the blast, the team finds nothing with which to convince the rest of the world that the boat-shaped object is the fabled arc. 60 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:27,000 Until we left, until when we didn't find any timber or anything while we figured it wasn't there. 61 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:38,000 Looking to capitalize on what could be one of the greatest archaeological finds since the pyramids, 62 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:43,000 the U.S. Turkish team, made up of private treasure seekers as well as government personnel, 63 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:48,000 lose heart when their hard work doesn't produce immediate, tangible results. 64 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:52,000 Though their lack of scientific proof doesn't reflect well on this first expedition, 65 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:56,000 other arch-hunters will eventually capitalize on their mistakes. 66 00:07:56,000 --> 00:08:04,000 This is especially true of Ron Wyatt, who begins his search by investigating confidential military reports and arcane text, 67 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:09,000 seeking any relevant account of the arc. What he finds is astonishing. 68 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:16,000 On September 5th, 1960, Life Magazine reports the results of the expedition, 69 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:23,000 after which public interest in the object wanes for everyone except Ron Wyatt. 70 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:29,000 Ron Wyatt is a nurse anesthetist practicing at Memorial Hospital of Nashville, Tennessee. 71 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:34,000 He is inspired by the mystery of the object and the Life Magazine article. 72 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:40,000 Though he cannot take time away from his family and career obligations to set out on an expedition of his own, 73 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:45,000 he immerses himself in the study of the arc and its place in history. 74 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:51,000 He pursues the related sciences, geology, archaeology, chemistry, 75 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:57,000 preparing himself for his ultimate goal, the field exploration of the boat-shaped object. 76 00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:02,000 We at that point in time began to do a lot of research, background research, 77 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:14,000 on the probable landing site of Noah's Ark and review the existing stories about people that claim to have seen the arc on the mountain. 78 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:22,000 Over 200 versions of a global deluge, a flood of planetary proportions, 79 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:27,000 exist in the folklore and historical references of various cultures. 80 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:32,000 Written individual accounts provide abundant evidence for a universal flood theory. 81 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:41,000 Ron Wyatt's independent studies reveal approximately 30 different sightings of the arc's purported resting place on or near Mount Ararat. 82 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:46,000 None of these sightings, however, are factually based and many are contradictory. 83 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:53,000 The 30 so-called eye witnesses, and I don't doubt the integrity of these people, 84 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:57,000 there are several stone formations on that mountain that resemble a boat, 85 00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:02,000 but no one was ever able to get photographic proof. 86 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:06,000 Also, I found that, say for example in World War II, 87 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:11,000 the pilots that flew by the mountain and made entries in their flight log 88 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:15,000 that they had seen a boat-shaped formation on the mountain, 89 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:21,000 they said that the boat-shaped formation was on the southeast face of the mountain. 90 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:30,000 The person that wrote this, or quoted this in his book, said that the log stated it was on the northwest face of the mountain. 91 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:45,000 And so I found that some of the reliable data had been misquoted in some of the books in an attempt to convince people that the boat perhaps was in a different sight than it really was. 92 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:52,000 Mount Ararat, a peak capped by glaciers, has been an active volcano on and off for thousands of years. 93 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:57,000 No wood structure could possibly have survived on this mountain, scoured by lava and ice. 94 00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:05,000 However, of the 30 well-documented sightings, not one places the Ark precisely on Mount Ararat. 95 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:13,000 In the biblical text itself, Genesis 8 verse 4, it states, the Ark came to rest in the mountains. 96 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:17,000 That's plural, mountains of Ararat. 97 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:28,000 His conclusion inspires Ron Wyatt to visit once again the findings of Wilbur Bishops' team and the site explored by the 1960 U.S. Turkish expedition. 98 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:37,000 In 1977, after 17 years of research, Ron is at last able to begin fieldwork in eastern Turkey. 99 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:44,000 He hires D. Lavar, a local guide who over time proves an indispensable aid to the research. 100 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:52,000 Their first foray into this intimidating land reveals a defiant vastness, making their search seem endless. 101 00:11:52,000 --> 00:12:00,000 The region, burdened by ages of warfare and laden with antiquity, is a place almost lost in time. 102 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:06,000 Wyatt's path is pitted with problems. 103 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:13,000 One man, a confidant and chief physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, actually tries to steal Ron's discovery. 104 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:20,000 Breaking into a study and rifling through his files in a botched attempt to abscond with the precious record of his find. 105 00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:29,000 Vicious competitors scramble to locate the Ark in a different geographical region simply to forestall the Wyatt expedition and keep them from staking their claim. 106 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:34,000 When fame and fortune are at stake, anything is fair game. 107 00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:41,000 To pierce the imposing veil of time, Ron takes his investigation to the villages surrounding Ararat. 108 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:49,000 Here in the spoken chronicles of the local inhabitants, he hopes to turn fable into fact and legend into history. 109 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:52,000 His intuition pays off. 110 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:58,000 By visiting with villagers in the proximity of the 1960 expedition and earning their trust, 111 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:06,000 Ron Wyatt is at last directed to the exact location of the object which has held his fascination for so many years. 112 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:16,000 And here we are at last, gazing upon the mortal remains of the great boat that no one in this family rode to Saipiti. 113 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:23,000 When I arrived at the boat-shaped object, I was amazed at how much it looked like a boat. 114 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:31,000 If you've ever seen a boat that had a hole in it and had partially sunk down to where just the railings of the boat were above the water, 115 00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:36,000 this is exactly what I saw sitting out there on that mountainside. 116 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:43,000 Located approximately 15 miles south of Mount Ararat, the site is located atop Doomsday Mountain. 117 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:49,000 Its elevation? 6,375 feet above sea level. 118 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:54,000 The dimensions are confirmed as approximately 515 feet in length, 119 00:13:54,000 --> 00:14:01,000 corresponding with the aerial photo survey and ground measurements made by the Turkish U.S. expedition. 120 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:06,000 It appears a long, boat-shaped semi-oval with a mound in the center. 121 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:11,000 20-foot earth-packed rims outline the immensity of the structure. 122 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:15,000 It rests on sedimentary, cretaceous water-laid rock. 123 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:20,000 This suggests that the entire valley was once immersed in water. 124 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:26,000 An important criteria for establishing this area is the possible landing site of the ark. 125 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:33,000 Although soil samples for chemical analysis are in order, Ron Wyatt lacks the appropriate permits, 126 00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:43,000 and so must satisfy himself with his only substantial evidence, the established dimensions and obvious boat shape of the half-buried relic. 127 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:49,000 Before returning home, Ron continues his search for fragments of information about the legendary ship, 128 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:53,000 conferring with and befriending the villagers of the area. 129 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:56,000 Other mysteries unfold. 130 00:14:56,000 --> 00:15:02,000 The Turkish word for ararat is aghradag, a mountain of pain. 131 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:07,000 In ancient times, the area acts as a buffer kingdom between rival empires, 132 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:15,000 with the thunder of hooves and the clash of steel from fierce warring nations and almost regular occurrence. 133 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:21,000 The local villagers coming to trust Ron are familiar with every boulder of their land. 134 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:29,000 Their unselfish assistance leads him to a series of remarkable discoveries. 135 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:36,000 He is directed to four massive anchor stones, each approximately eight feet high and weighing several tons. 136 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:41,000 Similar in proportion and design, the stones have eight distinct crosses 137 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:46,000 which experts believe represent the eight survivors of the great flood. 138 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:51,000 Each cross engraving seems to represent an individual survivor. 139 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:57,000 The alignment and placement of each cross is characteristic of that individual's relationship with Noah, 140 00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:04,000 and respectively to the others in the group, Ron Wyatt. 141 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:13,000 Like all the other grave markers in this area, the valley of the eight, this marker once had eight crosses. 142 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:22,000 Now these are beautiful representation of the ornate Byzantine cross dating back to approximately the third century AD. 143 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:26,000 The large cross representing Noah is especially ornate. 144 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:31,000 The one representing his wife is quite a beautiful design. 145 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:37,000 Now we have the matched pairing here, the oldest son and his wife. 146 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:40,000 These crosses are of the ornate style. 147 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:50,000 We have this cross here that represents one of the sons beyond the first son, and it matches with this one. 148 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:54,000 Up here we have the representation of the other son, 149 00:16:54,000 --> 00:17:04,000 but the representation or the cross representing his wife is missing and apparently got broken away over the years. 150 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:13,000 The alignment of these stones tell us the direction from which the boat came as it approached and the mountain that it landed on. 151 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:18,000 One of these stones is approximately a quarter of a mile from the boat itself. 152 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:27,000 Now these stones are this type anchor stone is a very familiar object to the students of early navigation. 153 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:35,000 They were used by many of the early civilizations, the Phoenicians in particular, 154 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:43,000 and the shores of the Mediterranean and the floor of the Mediterranean is strung with these stones. 155 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:49,000 The difference that becomes obvious immediately is the difference in size. 156 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:58,000 Dragged as ballast behind the ships to which they were tethered, these anchor stones were commonplace on ships sailing the Mediterranean for millennia, 157 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:03,000 only in size do these stones differ from their Mediterranean counterparts. 158 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:12,000 It is hypothesized that the colossal size of these stones indicates their use as an anchor on a ship of extreme proportions. 159 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:20,000 Perhaps even arc-sized proportions. 160 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:28,000 The villagers support this physical evidence with their fabulous tales brought down through the years from father to son. 161 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:35,000 The village in which the standing anchor stone rests is known as the village of Ait. 162 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:42,000 Located a few miles from the village, this majestic valley is known as the valley or region of the Ait. 163 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:51,000 None of the villagers can identify how these places were named, but many think them a message handed down from antiquity, 164 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:57,000 a tribute to Noah and his family, the Ait survivors of the great dead huge. 165 00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:08,000 With a PhD in archaeology, Dr. William Shea of the Biblical Research Institute of Washington, D.C. assists in analyzing the data from the Wyatt Expedition. 166 00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:14,000 His own interest in the boat-shaped object dates back to the original 1960 research junket. 167 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:24,000 As a teacher of Old Testament studies, Dr. Shea brings a revered and varied perspective to his review of the facts surrounding the arc-like phenomenon. 168 00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:32,000 I've never measured the exact distance, but if you stand on the object, you can see Mount Errat in the near foreground. 169 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:40,000 Mount Errat is a very beautiful and very interesting mountain, but it has certain drawbacks when you think of the flood story in the Bible. 170 00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:44,000 Mount Errat is a volcanic peak over 16,000 feet high. 171 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:55,000 If you think about the arc coming to land on a volcanic mountain, that's not a very propitious spot for it to be salvaged if you're going to find any remains. 172 00:19:55,000 --> 00:20:04,000 In fact, some of my friends who have been working on that particular mountain have been working on the northwest face, whereas there's the great Ahura Gorge. 173 00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:13,000 Now that blew out in historical times, and it seems like to me that would be the very worst place to have a preserved remnants of the arc. 174 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:20,000 So on the other hand, the site that we've been talking about in the mountains across the valley, those are sedimentary rocks. 175 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:26,000 They're not volcanic rocks, sedimentary rocks, water-laid rocks, the type of rocks that one would expect from flood activity. 176 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:32,000 Another thing about Mount Errat is that it's a glacial covered mountain peak. 177 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:35,000 I don't know the exact dimensions, and it varies according to the weather, of course. 178 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:39,000 The glaciers shrink back in the summertime and they extend in the wintertime, 179 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:47,000 but several thousand feet of the mountain's top are covered with glaciers, and these glaciers, of course, scour the rock of the mountainside. 180 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:56,000 So if you had an arc-shaped object up there, it would suffer from the same damage that the scouring of the rock would suffer from. 181 00:20:56,000 --> 00:21:05,000 Now the formation that we have, as it's been surveyed both from aerial photographs and on the ground, it's been measured both ways, 182 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:09,000 is 150 meters long, or almost 500 feet. 183 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:16,000 If you take that long Egyptian qubit, assuming Moses is the author of the account, or the transmitter of the account, 184 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:23,000 and apply that standard of measurement, it is interesting that this formation, either in the photographs or on the ground, 185 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:27,000 has measured to essentially what would be 300 cubits long. 186 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:32,000 Now that's a remarkable correspondence. It's not 500 cubits, it's not 150 cubits. 187 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:41,000 It just happens to be 300 cubits long, and the biblical story just happens to record the length of the arc as 300 cubits long. 188 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:44,000 One further suggestion about the width of the formation. 189 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:51,000 If you take the biblical measurements and add them up, you come out to a figure relatively close to the width of the formation in this way. 190 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:59,000 The height of the arc was 30 cubits, the width of the arc was 50 cubits, and the height of the arc was another 30 cubits. 191 00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:04,000 Now if you add that up as the distance around the hull of the arc, you get 110 cubits. 192 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:10,000 The width of the formation, as measured on the ground, is 150 feet. 193 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:17,000 Now, just as a rough figure, 100 cubits would be 150 feet, so it's relatively close. 194 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:22,000 It's not precise and not exact, but it's relatively close, even figuring it that way. 195 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:44,000 I've seen three of those stones in the field. One is in a village and two are out in the fields by the village. 196 00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:50,000 The first point that one can make in comparing with anchor stones, and we have many, many anchor stones to compare with. 197 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:55,000 Anchor stones were the common way to anchor ships until iron came in about 1200 BC. 198 00:22:55,000 --> 00:23:02,000 Anchor stones are tall in one dimension. 199 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:06,000 They are thin in another direction, and they have a hole at the top. 200 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:14,000 Now the major difference between this type of stone that we find here in Turkey and the stones that we find in the Mediterranean, 201 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:23,000 are that this is larger, this is taller than a man by a footer, so you could project that and say maybe it goes along with a larger ship. 202 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:27,000 Now the other aspect of these stones is their iconography. 203 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:31,000 Somebody has carved some signs into them, as you can see from this one right here. 204 00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:34,000 The large cross in the center would be Noah. 205 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:39,000 The medium-sized cross to the right and below would represent Noah's wife. 206 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:45,000 Three of the crosses up one side, above the arm of the cross, the major cross, would represent Noah's sons. 207 00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:49,000 The other three crosses up the other side would represent the wives of Noah's sons. 208 00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:59,000 There's exactly eight crosses, there are eight people in the flood story, and these are engraved upon stones that look very much like anchor type of stones. 209 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:07,000 The people who put those crosses on these stones saw some type of connection between these particular stones 210 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:14,000 and the idea of Noah and the ark and the eight people that were in the ark according to the biblical record. 211 00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:21,000 Now these stones are very unusual and irregular in that they are not near any normal natural body of water. 212 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:29,000 It seems evident to me that somebody either wanted to depict something like an anchor stone or actually used an anchor stone in this area. 213 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:35,000 And yet the nearest bodies of water are 75 miles to the southwest and 100 miles to the north. 214 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:42,000 No normal natural reasonable explanation for why anchor stones would be used in this particular area. 215 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:51,000 Many qualified scientists and archaeologists contend that Ron Wyatt's methods are absurd. 216 00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:58,000 They say that Ron is a victim of his own rhetoric and that his facts, while partially true, are equally suspect. 217 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:03,000 He's been accused of placing relics at the site and then falsely claiming that they're authentic. 218 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:08,000 The scientific facts will ultimately determine the legitimacy of the find. 219 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:14,000 Working as a team, their research is both satisfying and productive. 220 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:22,000 Both men are convinced that with the proper permits enabling detailed geological analysis and subsurface study, if not excavation, 221 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:27,000 that a breakthrough of major historical significance is in the making. 222 00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:35,000 Then, as though Wyatt's field successes were not enough to catapult the research into a whole new strata of discovery, 223 00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:38,000 a literally earth-shattering breakthrough takes place. 224 00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:47,000 My disappointment at having to wait on a permit for a later date was offset by an earthquake. 225 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:56,000 It happened in 1978 that did a much better job of excavating the boat than I could have done in maybe a year or two years' hard work. 226 00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:18,000 The earthquake drops the veil of soil from along one side of the boat's remains, leaving exposed the timber-shaped ribs of the ancient vessel. 227 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:30,000 Here, at 6,300 feet above sea level in the mountains of Ararat, lies what appears to be the hull of a massive ancient man-made ship. 228 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:38,000 The sides of the object clearly exposed, the outline of the hull as evident now as the object's incredible mass. 229 00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:51,000 It simply dropped the earth away from the outside of the boat and left the ribbed timbers and other structures out of the boat. 230 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:58,000 Out there where you could see them, also, there was a vertical split right down the center of the boat, 231 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:07,000 which enabled me to measure the depths of the boat, plus get good, clean, fresh sample material out of there 232 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:13,000 to have analyzed to tell us more about the chemical composition of the boat. 233 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:20,000 These two photos, post and pre-quake, established the extent of nature's timely excavation. 234 00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:26,000 On the left, a photo taken in 1960 by the Turkish U.S. team. 235 00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:33,000 At right, a photo taken by the Wyatt Expedition in 1979, shortly after the earthquake. 236 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:43,000 These photos clearly illustrate the large quantities of earth displaced from the sides of the object, before the quake and after. 237 00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:52,000 The quake has cracked the object down the center, allowing fresh soil samples to be taken for analysis. 238 00:27:52,000 --> 00:28:00,000 Samples are taken from the near vicinity as well to identify any significant differences in quantities of trace chemicals. 239 00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:06,000 The samples are rushed back to the United States, where they are immediately analyzed. 240 00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:09,000 The results are electrifying. 241 00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:17,000 A high-carbon content in the soil taken from where the boat's timbers are exposed provides evidence of long-decade wood. 242 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:24,000 Traces of metal are detected, revealing the possibility of objects such as metal supports. 243 00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:33,000 These are the first factual signs that the object is not simply a natural phenomenon, but may prove to be man-made. 244 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:41,000 Soil samples have been taken from the formation on two different occasions, in 1979 and again in 1984. 245 00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:50,000 It's the 1979 samples that first gave the clue that there is a distinct difference in the amount of carbon in the formation, 246 00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:53,000 as opposed to the field outside of the formation. 247 00:28:53,000 --> 00:29:02,000 I have the reports here. If there was wood in this formation, that kind of reading with 5% of carbon content would point to it. 248 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:05,000 That's the kind of reading you would expect to get from the decayed wood. 249 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:15,000 Once we became aware that there were concentrations of metal in this boat formation that were associated with what appeared to be structural remains, 250 00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:22,000 the next obvious step was to investigate the site with the use of metal detectors. 251 00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:31,000 We set up an expedition with permit to go out with four types of metal detection equipment, 252 00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:41,000 and with this we carefully surveyed the boat and we laid out tape, survey tape on top of the ground or on top of the formation 253 00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:47,000 to indicate the position of the metal patterns in the boat. 254 00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:57,000 Five field research specialists, including Dr. John Baumgartner, a physicist from Los Alamos National Laboratories, 255 00:29:57,000 --> 00:30:00,000 accompany Ron on his next expedition. 256 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:06,000 Using metal detection devices, they construct from the evidence gathered the unmistakable pattern, 257 00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:14,000 the regular features delineating a symmetrical, internal, subsurface structure of massive proportions. 258 00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:17,000 Dr. Shea. 259 00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:22,000 You could call the year from August of 84 to August of 85 the year of the metal detector, 260 00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:26,000 because he took a metal detector over, went over the formation, 261 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:31,000 and first of all he got positive readings from his metal detector, 262 00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:37,000 but it showed readings in patterns, and the results with all three different types of metal detectors were consistent, 263 00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:41,000 and they did indeed give a pattern as they laid out strips. 264 00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:46,000 Now they also got crosswise patterns, and this was first discovered with the metal detectors. 265 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:56,000 Four different types of metal detectors are used. 266 00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:59,000 All produce positive readings, 267 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:03,000 and they are translated here into visually observable features. 268 00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:08,000 No positive results occur in the readings taken outside the boat-shaped area. 269 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:10,000 Dr. Shea. 270 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:13,000 If you had petrified wood in this formation, 271 00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:22,000 and the petrification takes place by a process of mineral elements flowing through the wood and depositing in them, 272 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:28,000 then you would expect the trace readings that those minerals would give 273 00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:33,000 to follow the pattern of the decayed timbers in the petrification process. 274 00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:41,000 And so one possibility would be that this is a reflection of the petrification process of an original form, 275 00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:44,000 which would underlay this formation as it now stands. 276 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:50,000 When we did this metal detector evaluation of the boat formation, 277 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:54,000 we covered the sides of the boat also, 278 00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:59,000 the area that had been left bare when the earth fell away during the earthquake, 279 00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:08,000 and the ribbed timber patterns and the kiel, or kielsen patterns were very obvious along the sides also. 280 00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:11,000 Now another thing we did with these metal detectors, 281 00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:15,000 where we spotted high concentrations say of iron, for example, 282 00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:25,000 we were able to collect a sample of 91% pure iron that showed preferential gradients under microscopic examination, 283 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:30,000 and in our language that meant that this had been hand-worked. 284 00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:36,000 Their evidence is strong, but without excavating the site, a costly and time-consuming process, 285 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:41,000 the group is concerned that they may not realistically be able to confirm their findings 286 00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:46,000 and prove to all the world the existence of a subterranean vessel. 287 00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:54,000 Scientific testing is the key to dating. 288 00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:59,000 It's also essential to establishing the facts that would define the structure as a boat. 289 00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:04,000 Bringing experts to this location in eastern Turkey, however, is another matter. 290 00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:07,000 It's brimming with ethnic and national conflicts. 291 00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:12,000 Though they can't be certain of the motives, Ron and his party have been targeted for kidnapping 292 00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:17,000 and possible extermination by a group of terrorists notorious in the area. 293 00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:23,000 Despite this threat, the scientists and researchers invited on the expedition choose to continue on their mission, 294 00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:26,000 and the team is dispatched to the site. 295 00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:32,000 Subsurface interface radar transmits electromagnetic pulses, 296 00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:37,000 or short wavelength electric energy bursts, into the ground. 297 00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:44,000 Echoes from these pulses bounce back and are measured by a receiver. 298 00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:47,000 The echo time can be translated into readings. 299 00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:51,000 These are graphically recorded on a continuous roll of paper, 300 00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:55,000 like you might see in the printout of an electrocardiogram. 301 00:33:56,000 --> 00:34:02,000 By this process, objects beneath the ground may be located and to some degree measured. 302 00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:14,000 We got back to America, raised the money and made the arrangements to get a subsurface interface radar system out to eastern Turkey. 303 00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:20,000 So in getting permits to investigate this area or to excavate the area, 304 00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:34,000 the Turkish government have to consider what their neighbors will perceive this to be in, you know, matters of the security of their borders. 305 00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:39,000 In the summer of 1986, the Wyatt expedition assembles once again. 306 00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:45,000 They receive the necessary permits from the Turkish government and prepare to perform the radar scan. 307 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:50,000 Everything is set up for this most critical scientific confirmation. 308 00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:56,000 Then what could never have been predicted comes to pass and they are stopped dead in their tracks. 309 00:34:56,000 --> 00:35:05,000 Now we had been informed that we were in some danger of terrorists attacking us or taking us hostage. 310 00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:15,000 And in the light of this, the Turkish government provided a group of 30 commandos that accompanied us out to the boat formation each day. 311 00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:22,000 And they would go out and hide themselves in the crevices, canyons and whatnot around the boat site. 312 00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:29,000 Now what happened just took a matter of seconds, but to me it seemed like several minutes. 313 00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:39,000 Our Turkish commandos just rose up literally from the earth where they had been hiding and decimated these terrorists with automatic gunfire. 314 00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:55,000 The thunder of gunfire rocks the walls of Doomsday Mountain, a seat of regional conflict for centuries. 315 00:35:56,000 --> 00:36:05,000 The Turkish commandos make short work of this violent challenge, leaving their adversaries silenced forever. 316 00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:17,000 The Wyatt expedition makes the Turkish headlines, but not in the way that they had sought. 317 00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:25,000 This effectively stalled our attempts to do a radar scan on the boat and of course it was some time... 318 00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:36,000 The radar technicians, special equipment and support personnel included in this unsuccessful expedition make this setback not only frustrating but costly. 319 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:46,000 Not knowing whether his way is obstructed by fate or some other less obvious interference, Ron Wyatt must patiently endure. 320 00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:59,000 He realizes that there are competitors who would attempt to preempt his effort and others with political and even religious reasons for trying to dissuade him from his quest. 321 00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:09,000 Nevertheless, in August of 1985, the Wyatt expedition receives the necessary government permits to perform the radar examinations. 322 00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:13,000 The results are staggering. 323 00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:21,000 Massive keelsons, deck timbers, open chambers and other nautical configurations appear before their eyes, 324 00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:28,000 telling the story of what specialists believed to be the remains of an enormous, ancient man-made ship. 325 00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:34,000 Basically, the radar scans show the same thing that the metal detector scans did, only with more detail. 326 00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:41,000 They show there is a pattern. They show there is a pattern of linear lines, there is a pattern of cross lines, 327 00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:46,000 and there is a pattern of even distribution to these lines in both directions. 328 00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:53,000 Now, that's precisely what you would expect out of the remains of a ship type object, because you would have a keel, 329 00:37:53,000 --> 00:38:05,000 you would have parallel lines which would be keelsons, and you would have the transverse lines which would be bulkheads and other reinforcing of the ship. 330 00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:26,000 Immediately after the earthquake, it was to measure the depth of the deposit or the remains of the boat along the length of the boat. 331 00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:40,000 At the point where the deposit thickened, it was at that point that the upper decks began, and we found that there was, this was a three-tiered, our three-decked boat. 332 00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:46,000 Now, in 1985, 1986, and 87, we were able to measure this laterally. 333 00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:59,000 Also, this data, with the data that we got from the radar scan, allows us to know what the boat looked like and to be able to reproduce a model, 334 00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:07,000 scale model of that boat within very close tolerances of what it actually looked like. 335 00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:12,000 This is the best estimate of what Noah's Ark looked like. 336 00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:27,000 Now, the deck portion of the boat shows up very clearly on the radar scans, and we have reproduced that here in the deck portion of the model. 337 00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:44,000 Now, the boat itself is very unique internally as well as externally, and in this end, we find the bracing to hold the hull out and to maintain its strength in Stormy Sea. 338 00:39:44,000 --> 00:39:55,000 As you look up the boat here, you find that there's many chambers in here which no doubt were the areas that the animals were kept in. 339 00:39:55,000 --> 00:40:07,000 Right near the front, we have a ramp system which allowed the animals and the people that occupied the boat to move from one level of the boat to the other, and this, of course, begins at the door. 340 00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:12,000 We've gone about as far as we can go in surface survey work and even scanning work. 341 00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:14,000 There are other types of scans that could be done. 342 00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:17,000 I don't know that it would be that helpful really to get more scans. 343 00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:33,000 What we really need now is excavation, but I would say that each one of these positive steps does point directly identifying this formation as containing remains of Noah's Ark, but the final proof of the pudding ultimately must come from excavation. 344 00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:46,000 We're delighted with the results, and at this point in time, personally, I can look anybody in the eye and say that this boat shaped formation in eastern Turkey is actually the remains of Noah's Ark. 345 00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:54,000 It is human nature to want to know our origins and to fill in the blanks of unwritten history. 346 00:40:54,000 --> 00:41:00,000 To justify spiritual beliefs, many have tried to confirm the existence of God with black and white facts. 347 00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:05,000 While there is factual evidence that the remains of a boat are buried on Ron's mountain, there's nothing conclusive to prove that it's the fabled Ark. 348 00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:09,000 Then again, there's nothing conclusive to prove that it isn't. 349 00:41:09,000 --> 00:41:15,000 In terms of the history of the ship, it's not a very clear evidence of the existence of Noah's Ark. 350 00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:21,000 In terms of the importance of the location of Noah's Ark and the identification of it, I would say make three main points. 351 00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:31,000 First of all, as one goes through the history of the human race in the Bible, this stands as an important historical event, a very transitional event. 352 00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:34,000 It's an event that divides two eras in biblical history. 353 00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:38,000 So just in terms of history of the race, it's an important event. 354 00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:46,000 Second, I would say that it will have far-reaching implications in the realms of both science and history. 355 00:41:46,000 --> 00:42:01,000 Obviously, some scientific theories are going to have to be revised if we really have found a boat-shaped formation from DeLuvian times at the 6300 foot level in these mountains in eastern Turkey. 356 00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:05,000 Third, I would say that there is a religious teaching out of it. 357 00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:12,000 There's a theology in Genesis 6 to 9, the three chapters that cover the flood story, and I would say it reveals two sides of the character of God. 358 00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:24,000 It reveals his character as judge of the Antedeluvians for the nature of their civilization, yet his redempting activity is shown in his graciousness and mercy extended to Noah and his family. 359 00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:36,000 In every generation, there are those who dedicate their lives against all odds to the greater search for knowledge and truth. 360 00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:44,000 Before them lay not only the impediments of nature, but the obstructions placed by men unfriendly to their quest. 361 00:42:44,000 --> 00:43:01,000 These obstructions are made manifest through deception, misleading information, and political trickery perpetrated often by governments and powerful religious leaders, overcoming each challenge, and facing down every obstacle along the way. 362 00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:09,000 The Ron Wyatt expedition has contributed to the world what was formerly considered lost to time and the elements. 363 00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:22,000 It is now proclaimed by many to be the final resting place of that legendary Daluvian vessel, the salvation of all life on our small planet, none other than Noah's Ark. 364 00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:35,000 In his quest for Noah's Ark, Ron Wyatt discovered an enormous, ancient, boat-shaped object partially buried on a mountainside, 6300 feet above sea level. 365 00:43:35,000 --> 00:43:40,000 Why is it there is a question for civilization to puzzle over for centuries to come. 366 00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:48,000 Wyatt has taken this long for you and I to learn of the Ark is perhaps a man-made mystery of more pressing significance. 367 00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:52,000 Lost no more are the phenomenon archives. 368 00:44:05,000 --> 00:44:10,000 The Ark is a place where the world is a place of the world. 369 00:44:10,000 --> 00:44:15,000 The Ark is a place where the world is a place of the world. 370 00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:20,000 The Ark is a place where the world is a place of the world. 371 00:44:20,000 --> 00:44:25,000 The Ark is a place where the world is a place of the world. 372 00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:30,000 The Ark is a place where the world is a place of the world. 373 00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:35,000 The Ark is a place where the world is a place of the world. 374 00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:40,000 The Ark is a place where the world is a place of the world. 375 00:44:40,000 --> 00:44:45,000 The Ark is a place where the world is a place of the world. 376 00:44:45,000 --> 00:44:50,000 The Ark is a place where the world is a place of the world. 377 00:44:50,000 --> 00:44:55,000 The Ark is a place where the world is a place of the world. 378 00:44:55,000 --> 00:45:00,000 The Ark is a place where the world is a place of the world. 379 00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:05,000 The Ark is a place where the world is a place of the world. 380 00:45:05,000 --> 00:45:10,000 The Ark is a place where the world is a place of the world. 381 00:45:10,000 --> 00:45:15,000 The Ark is a place where the world is a place of the world. 382 00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:20,000 The Ark is a place where the world is a place of the world. 383 00:45:20,000 --> 00:45:25,000 The Ark is a place where the world is a place of the world. 384 00:45:25,000 --> 00:45:30,000 The Ark is a place where the world is a place of the world. 385 00:45:30,000 --> 00:45:35,000 The Ark is a place where the world is a place of the world. 386 00:45:35,000 --> 00:45:40,000 The Ark is a place where the world is a place of the world. 387 00:45:40,000 --> 00:45:45,000 The Ark is a place where the world is a place of the world. 388 00:45:45,000 --> 00:45:50,000 The Ark is a place where the world is a place of the world. 389 00:45:50,000 --> 00:45:55,000 The Ark is a place where the world is a place of the world.