What If The Ark Is Not Found?
Even If Noah’s Ark Is Not Proven, Noah’s Ark Still Could Have Landed On Mount Ararat
Even if scientific research shows that Noah’s Ark is not substantiated currently on Mount Ararat, there are several reasonable possibilities to show that Noah’s Ark could have landed on Mount Ararat but been lost since that time. According to the Bible (c. 1450 BC), Noah’s Ark did land in this region on the “mountains of Ararat or Urartu.” According to the Qur’an (c. AD 600), Noah’s Ark landed on Al Cudi or Cudi Dağı. One of Mount Ararat’s peaks (the eastern peak) has historically been called Al Cudi. ArcImaging is aware of four other mountains named Cudi Dağı including one in southeastern Turkey near Cizre, another in south central Turkey near Harran, another in Saudi Arabia, and Durupinar (since 1985). However, Mount Ararat is much more impressive than the others and it is more than two times their height.
ArcImaging may be able to demonstrate that Noah’s Ark has survived on Mount Ararat but ArcImaging cannot prove that Noah’s Ark did not land on Mount Ararat. ArcImaging can only show that Noah’s Ark is not in the locations that we scientifically search (like under the ice cap, in the Ahora Gorge, etc.). Obviously, there are a number of scenarios that could have occurred in the past, which might show that Noah’s Ark landed on Mount Ararat and later was lost or destroyed. Cultural traditions and archaeological evidence of previous civilizations on and around Mount Ararat could also point to Noah’s Ark landing on Mount Ararat. Traditional places associated with Noah’s Ark and the Flood near Mount Ararat include the following:
1) A traditional Garden of Eden located in the bountiful valley of the Aras River.
2) Marand, the traditional burial place of Noah’s wife.
3) Ahora (Aghuri), traditionally, the spot where Noah planted his first vineyard after coming down Mount Ararat from Noah’s Ark. Ahora was traditionally viewed as Noah’s Village. Incidentally, in 1966 a vineyard was still located in Ahora. The monastery of St. Jacob was also situated at the top of Aghuri Village toward the Ahora Gorge until both it and most of the village of Aghuri were buried in 1840 by an earthquake and resulting avalanche many hours later, which came thundering down the Ahora Gorge with water, moraine, ice, and mudflows.
4) The traditional House of Shem (Noah’s son) located at Korhan.
5) The traditional “Place of Noah’s First Descent” from the mountain referred to by the Jewish Historian Josephus as “Naxuan” thought to possibly be nearby Nachivan.
For example, ArcImaging estimates the following scenarios could have occurred to Noah’s Ark over the years after its possible landing on Mount Ararat:
1) Naturally deteriorated
2) Naturally deteriorated and vandalized for wood and relics
3) Buried by a lava flow or ash
4) Destroyed by the prehistoric explosion that created the entire Ahora Gorge
5) Destroyed by moving ice in the ice cap and splintered into pieces