Discovered in 1959 in the eastern province of Ağrı's Doğubayazıt district by Capt. İlhan Durupınar, an expert cartographer, Noah's Ark, mentioned in the holy books, is a legend for some and a fact waiting to be proved for others. After the publication of the discovery in national newspapers and magazines, renowned photogrammetry and earth scientist Arthur Brandenberger from Ohio University received permission from the military administration and studied the area with his team, but the lab results have remained a mystery as they were never released to the public.
Salih Bayraktutan at Erzurum's Atatürk University and scientists at California University's Los Alamos National Laboratory have since carried out the first scientific research on the area and the ship 26 years after its discovery.
Ground penetrating radar images have detected a ship's body, and an 80-page scientific report released after the studies said: ''It is highly likely that the formation underground is a ship. Archaeological excavations must be launched before winter." Bayraktutan's initiative later made the area a protected archeological site.
The ship-shaped formation discovered a half a century ago in eastern Turkey is now opening new horizons about Noah's Ark thanks to the new 3D images.
Computer engineer and archaeologist Andrew Jones and geophysicist John Larsen created a 3D image of the formation to examine it thoroughly and shared their findings with Cem Sertesen, the director of the documentary "Noah's Ark," released in 2017.
Showing footage from his upcoming documentary "Noah's Ark-2," Sertesen said: "These are the actual images of Noah's Ark. They are neither fake nor simulation. They show the entire ship buried underground." Stressing that the images were gathered by sending electric signals underground via cables, Sertesen said: "It's a ship, but it's too early to be called Noah's Ark. We have to do a lot of work. This can only be done with the support of universities and the Turkish state," he said.
Sertesen completed the documentary "Noah's Ark" in 2017 after a 22-year process. He went on to say that the study was carried out to motivate the scientific community. Geophysicists also collect seeds and plants to determine the age of the region, Sertesen added.
