Turkey
Also known as Durupınar site, Nuh'un Gemisi, Telçeker
Boat-shaped formation about 164 m long near Üzengili, roughly 29 km south of Ararat's summit; promoted by some as the Ark and described by geologists as a natural structure.
12 claimed · 34 disputed · 2 debunked · 4 supported
Newsweek reported footage from Noah's Ark Scans that the group says shows a possible cavity and a distinct band matching a wooden hull at the lower end of the Durupınar formation.
Baptist Press reported that Jim Parker of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary backs the drilling approach but wants peer review before any claim, while Ken Ham said Answers in Genesis does not accept the site.
On NewsNation's Unreported, Andrew Jones and Lauren Witzke said the buried wood strengthens the case for Durupınar, with Jones comparing the evidence to a court case built from several lines.
Noah's Ark Scans founder Andrew Jones discussed the Durupınar site, the charred and uncharred wood and death threats he says he has received in episode 40 of Austin Lostroh's X broadcast.
In a Charisma interview Andrew Jones said the case for Durupınar is strong but "not at 100", described threats and a break-in, and said he expects excavation permits sooner rather than later.
Noah's Ark Scans recapped the 2026 Durupınar season on X, citing 300+ soil samples, cores to about 20 metres, radar anomalies and charred wood it says Atila confirmed, now out for carbon-14 dating.
Lauren Witzke of Noah's Ark Scans said on X that the charred Durupınar wood is being tested for bitumen ("pitch"), tree sap and species as well as carbon-14.
↳ responds to Noah's Ark Scans says Atila confirms charred wood from Durupınar is at the lab for carbon-14 dating
An Ancient Origins fact-check rated as unverified the idea that wood sent for carbon dating from Durupınar will show the formation is Noah's Ark, while rating as established that fragments were sent to labs.
In a GlobeNewswire press release, Noah's Ark Scans said charred wood was recovered almost 30 feet deep in the Durupınar formation and sent for carbon-14 dating and species identification, and that Prof. Cenker Atila had reviewed and confirmed Khosrow Bakhtar's preliminary radar results.
In a LifeSiteNews interview, Noah's Ark Scans fundraising and marketing lead Lauren Witzke said "the Ark is real, the global flood happened" and that textbooks would have to be rewritten, and responded to critics of the drilling and radar work.
In an X post, Noah's Ark Scans shared what it called an official update from Prof. Cenker Atila that multiple pieces of charred wood recovered at Durupınar are at a laboratory for carbon-14 dating, adding that Atila says this is not proof of the Ark until results are in.
In an X post, Lauren Witzke of Noah's Ark Scans said Prof. Cenker Atila had "reviewed and confirmed" Khosrow Bakhtar's radar report as an official part of the study, and that the report proved the formation is a man-made, three-tiered structure.
Andrew Jones told the Jerusalem Post that none of the 16 boreholes hit bedrock, which he sees as favouring the Ark view, while Prof. Cenker Atila said a radar void "can be a geological hole" and declined to call it a corridor.
↳ responds to Sivas Cumhuriyet University and Noah's Ark Scans run a 2026 field season at Durupınar
TMMOB's Chamber of Geological Engineers (JMO) said the formation should be assessed as a product of landslide and erosion processes, and that no scientifically verified evidence links it to Noah's Flood.
↳ responds to Sivas Cumhuriyet University and Noah's Ark Scans run a 2026 field season at Durupınar
Nate Loper argued that the reported radar, soil and drilling observations remain compatible with the site's natural geology, and that the 1979 Galbraith analyses look closer to rock and carbonate than petrified wood.
In an X post, Lauren Witzke of Noah's Ark Scans summarised the 2026 radar, drilling and soil work and said the team is "at the precipice of proving the truth of Noah's Ark".
La Trobe University said a small camera robot designed by Dr Robert Ross to explore wombat burrows was deployed at the Durupınar formation for Noah's Ark Discovery, noting that Ark claims remain highly contested.
Prof. Cenker Atila said 20% of the radar analysis was done, with corridor- and room-like features and a three-layer formation, but said the data are not conclusive and the features may be geological.
↳ responds to Sivas Cumhuriyet University and Noah's Ark Scans run a 2026 field season at Durupınar
Lead Stories, Anadolu Ajansı's Teyit Hattı, TF1 Info and Al Jazeera reported that viral early-October 2026 videos said to show the Ark being excavated near Ararat were AI-generated or did not show the real work.
↳ responds to Noah's Ark Scans publishes a radar report saying Durupınar is "not geological"
Responding to headlines calling the Durupınar identification "100% confirmed", Ken Ham wrote that Answers in Genesis does not believe Noah's Ark has been found at the site and warned against sensationalism.
After visiting the site, Ağrı Governor Önder Bozkurt said the work had not yet reached scientific certainty, asked the public to rely on official information, and said results would be shared after lab analysis.
Jones told Fox News the team drilled over 60 ft and found no solid rock block, which he said should give skeptics pause; on "Saturday in America" he said he expects confirmation after this winter's soil analysis.
Noah's Ark Scans released a preliminary report in which radar developer Dr. Khosrow Bakhtar said BakhtarRadar imaged an organised, non-geological structure with corridors and chambers beneath the formation.
↳ responds to Sivas Cumhuriyet University and Noah's Ark Scans run a 2026 field season at Durupınar
Writing on the 2026 drilling headlines, Brian Thomas of the Institute for Creation Research argued that the Durupınar formation is better explained by natural geology than as the remains of the Ark.
↳ responds to Sivas Cumhuriyet University and Noah's Ark Scans run a 2026 field season at Durupınar
Turkish fact-checker Doğruluk Payı rated partly false a viral X claim that radar found decks, tunnels and rooms six metres under Durupınar, saying the anomalies are real but unexplained.
A ministry-approved project led by Prof. Cenker Atila mapped the formation, ran GPR and core drilling, and sent soil samples to Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University for analysis; reported sample counts differ and results are pending.
Eşref Atabey of Turkey's mineral research directorate (MTA) concluded the Durupınar formation is a natural syncline shaped by folding, erosion and landslide, not Ark remains.
↳ responds to Noah's Ark Scans says soil tests and re-analysed radar suggest a man-made structure
Ken Ham, quoting geologist Andrew Snelling, wrote that the 2025 publicity mostly recycles claims made since the 1980s and refuted by skeptics and creationist geologists.
Noah's Ark Scans said September 2024 soil samples showed higher organic matter and potassium inside the formation and re-analysed 2019 GPR showed right angles and corridors.
↳ responds to Noah's Ark Scans says soil tests and re-analysed radar suggest a man-made structure
IFLScience said the bold claims should be taken "with a pinch of Dead Sea salt", noting earlier claims about the site were typically dismissed by experts as natural rock formations.
The Daily Mail reported plans to excavate the boat-shaped mound, while quoting Andrew Jones that excavation would come only after non-destructive tests and a preservation plan.
Jerusalem Post and Israel Hayom re-reported the 2023 sample results; Israel Hayom also cited Lorence Collins' 2016 work concluding the formation is natural.
The Jerusalem Post, citing The Sun, reported the research team's sample dating and marine materials and said the findings revived interest in the site.
Andrew Jones published a book chapter comparing 1987 and 2019 field studies, integrating ground-penetrating radar and LiDAR data from the Durupınar formation.
AİÇÜ vice rector Faruk Kaya said initial İTÜ lab results found clayey and marine materials and indicated human activity since the Chalcolithic, adding dating alone cannot show the ship is there.
The "Mount Ararat and Noah's Ark Research Team" from Ağrı İbrahim Çeçen University and Istanbul Technical University collected about 30 rock and soil samples at the site.
National Geographic reviewed the history of Ark searches; archaeologist Jodi Magness said "No legitimate archaeologist does this".
Lorence Collins wrote in Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith that the formation's "petrified wood" is basalt and its supposed iron fittings are cemented mineral grains.
Murat Avcı's peer-reviewed paper describes the ship-like feature as a Miocene limestone block that slumped and crept downslope on Eocene clays and was shaped by earthflow abrasion.
New Scientist reported that Justice Sackville found some of Allen Roberts' Ark claims were false but ruled his activities were not "trade or commerce", rejecting Plimer's complaint; Fasold was awarded A$2,500 over a copied diagram.
Geologist Lorence Collins and David Fasold concluded in the Journal of Geoscience Education that the formation is a natural doubly plunging syncline and the "anchor" stones are local andesite.
David Fasold returned to the site with Australian geologist Ian Plimer and concluded the formation was not a boat, suggesting ancient people had mistaken it for the Ark.
In a Deseret News interview, David Fasold said a Turkish farmer named Reshit found the formation in 1948 and that he had backed away from Ron Wyatt years earlier.
↳ responds to Wyatt, Fasold and Baumgardner survey Durupınar with radar
Andrew Snelling's Creation magazine report argued the Durupınar formation is natural and criticised the methods and claims promoted by Ron Wyatt and others.
David Fasold's book argued the Durupınar formation is the fossilised remains of the Ark and linked a nearby peak locally called Cudi to the Qur'an's al-Jūdī.
A consortium including Irwin's High Flight Foundation and the Institute for Creation Research had ground permits revoked and flew a high-altitude aerial survey instead.
Ron Wyatt, David Fasold and geophysicist John Baumgardner surveyed the formation with ground-penetrating radar and a "frequency generator", reporting a regular internal structure.
James Irwin began a scaled-down Ararat climb with five companions escorted by 30 Turkish troops; Ron Wyatt's group was refused permission to continue at the Durupınar site.
Amateur archaeologist Ron Wyatt visited the Durupınar site in 1977 and spent the following years promoting it as the remains of Noah's Ark.
No entries 1961–1976
An Archaeological Research Foundation team including George Vandeman, İlhan Durupınar and Arthur Brandenberger dug and dynamited at the site and found only soil and rocks.
Turkish army captain İlhan Durupınar identified a boat-shaped formation south of Ararat in Turkish Air Force survey photos, prompting speculation it was the Ark.
No entries 1949–1958
AP reporter Edwin Greenwald relayed landowner Shukru Asena's account that a farmer named Reshit found a petrified ship's prow about two-thirds of the way up Ararat.