(As written in "The Incredible Discovery of Noah's Ark, by Charles E. Sellier and David W. Balsiger, pages 289 - 291)

POSSIBLE MONGOL FORT
by Ron Charles

Another historian and researcher in this area has an intriguing explanation for the formation at the Wyatt-Fasold site. Dr. Ron Charles, a historian of ancient cultures and a leader of archaeological expeditions to several parts of the world, says, I've been to the Wyatt-Fasold site three different times. I've discovered that proponents of this site use just one portion of it to say that a reed boat would fit in there without any problems. When I actually looked at it, it seemed to me that they were only using part of the formation rather than examining all of it and 1 believe you can't justify it without examining the entire structure.

After examining the site, I have come to the conclusion that it is a natural formation on top of which a Mongol reconnaissance fort was built by the Mongol conqueror Tamerlane in the latter part of the 1300s. He went through this area and this particular type of construction was typical for Tamerlane.

At the time of Tamerlane's conquest, the foothills of Tendurek were part of the conquered territory of Armenia/Kurdistan; with the valley that lies north of the little village of Uzengili and south of Aghri Dagh being the main caravan route from Persia to Anatolia and on into Europe and Syria. So if Tamerlane was consistent in his conquest tactics, then on the foothills that overlooked the main east-west caravan route that connected Persia to Anatolia at least one, probably as many as seven reconnaissance base-storage camps were built by Tamerlane as he moved forward conquering the area.

He would take 240 of his handpicked soldiers into an area to be conquered and build these forts. He would use existing geological formations such as lava flows, earthquake fissures, riverbeds, or creekbeds. They were always facing north and south on a caravan route.

Then, on top of these natural formations, he would reinforce them with hand-laid stones and cover it all with mud. They would use these as a temporary reconnaissance fortification, an observation point, and as a storage facility.

Looking at the formation in its full composition, the part being referred to as the ark by Wyatt and Fasold is the upper tier of the fort, with the lower portion being a tier of equal length to the right. The lower end of both tiers would have been the supply entrance, while the entrance at the other end would have been for pedestrians.

The upper tier has a high point for observation, along with two alignment stones that were always a part of Tamerlane's forts. Also, the upper tier would have been the officer's quarters, while the lower tier would have been quarters for the mercenary army.

I am convinced that this site is something other than the ark of Noah, and it sure fits the pattern for one of Tamerlane's forts.

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