- Tonight, two of the Bible's most famous
and powerful artifacts, designed by God himself
from a mysterious chest.
- The Ark of the Covenant
is the most desired object in history,
thanks to the Ark's phenomenal power
to protect its owners and destroy their enemies.
[dramatic music]
- [Dennis] To a lifesaving vessel.
- Noah's Ark is designed to save all of creation.
- Each of these Arks has prompted innumerable quests,
along with countless books, movies, and even operas.
But did either Ark actually exist?
And if so, where could they be?
- No one has found Noah's Ark
because they've been looking in the wrong place.
- Crotser turns on his flashlight
and right in front of him, he sees a gold colored box
that can only be the Ark of the Covenant.
- Sacred objects have inspired awe for thousands of years.
Now, the remarkable stories behind history's
most compelling Holy Marvels.
[epic music]
The Ark of the Covenant has inspired historians
and archeologists for thousands of years.
It's been seen in countless works of art
and even chased down by Indiana Jones.
But the real life story
might be even better than the movies.
[intense music]
- There's an argument to be made
that this might be the most desired object in history,
thanks to the phenomenal power it's said to possess.
Millions of people are familiar
with the tales of the Ark's ability to protect its owners
and destroy their enemies.
- Of course, we all know Indiana Jones
was fascinated by the Ark, but so was Adolf Hitler
and several other high ranking Nazis.
This is described as the most powerful weapon ever built.
- The story of the Ark starts around the 13th century BC
with a group of people called the Israelites.
They've been enslaved by the Egyptians
and they're eager to change their situation.
- In the book of Exodus, with God's help,
Moses leads the Israelites out of bondage
and into the desert,
searching for a place they call the Promised Land.
Eventually as they travel through the desert,
they reach Mount Sinai, where God appears before Moses
and gives him the 10 Commandments.
- God also tells Moses to build him a holy vessel
to hold the tablets of the Commandments.
This is the Ark of the Covenant.
The Hebrew word aron means Ark or box,
and the covenant refers to the sacred agreement
between God and the Israelites.
- [Dennis] In the Bible, God himself gives Moses
detailed instructions for building the Ark.
- The Ark is to be made of acacia wood,
2.5 cubits long, 1.5 cubits wide,
and 1.5 cubits high,
which translates to approximately 52 inches long,
31 inches wide, 31 inches high.
- It's covered entirely in gold inside and out,
and it has four rings along the side of it.
These are meant for special poles,
made of the same wood, to pass through
so that the Ark can be carried with the people
as they traveled through the desert.
And finally, the box is topped off
with a really ornate gold lid
that has two modeled cherubim angels on the top.
- [Dennis] Once the Ark is ready,
the Israelites carry it with them wherever they go.
- The Bible itself, it tends to suggest
that this is a very dangerous object,
as well as being a very holy object.
There are accounts of people looking at it directly
becoming blinded.
There are accounts of people getting too close
and having their skin erupt in boils.
Even Moses, when he was the first one to encounter this,
his face becomes disfigured
and he goes through the rest of his life wearing a veil.
[intense music]
- [Dennis] The Ark demonstrates
other kinds of incredible power as well.
- In the book of Joshua, in the Old Testament,
an army of 40,000 Israelites
have their sight set on the city of Jericho,
but they've reached an obstacle.
The Jordan River is in a massive flood stage
and there's no way around it.
That is until several priests emerge carrying the Ark.
- They put their feet in the river and the river dries up,
much like the drying up of the Red Sea
when Moses crosses it.
It's a sign that God is operating
through the power of the Ark.
- Once they reach the walls of Jericho,
the Israelites begin their attack with a siege.
They blow horns and march the Ark
around the entire circumference of the city.
They do this every day for a week
until, on the seventh day, the walls of Jericho fall.
- It's incredible.
No catapults, no cannons.
The walls just crumble as if by magic.
- The Bible makes this very clear.
This would only have been possible
thanks to the power of the object that they have,
this weapon.
Without the Ark of the Covenant, that they had no hope.
But with it, they're an unstoppable force.
- [Dennis] What's the secret
behind the object's immense power?
- It's believed the Ark actually houses God
full-time on Earth.
No other item in the Bible ever grants the ability
to carry the power of God around in the front of your army.
- Moses actually talks directly to God using the Ark.
They have conversations where God speaks
from between the two cherubs on the lid.
- [Dennis] The Ark is next mentioned
in an important Old Testament book called 1 Samuel.
- In 1 Samuel,
the Philistines go to war against the Israelites.
During the fighting,
the Philistines actually manage to steal the Ark,
which is pretty surprising.
When they get it home, they place it in a vault
where they also keep a statue of their own God, Dagon.
The next day, they find Dagon in a totally different spot,
face down, bowed before the Ark.
- The Philistines begin to suffer from plagues of boils.
And to make matters worse, mice overrun the city.
They realize that the Ark is not a force to be trifled with,
so they bring it back to the Israelites.
And soon after, their maladies are healed.
- The Ark of the Covenant becomes a large part
of the Israelites' military strategy.
They continue winning battles with it
and because it's a direct way to converse with God,
they can consult it, and receive advice
and tactics before battle.
- [Dennis] Eventually, around 1,000 BC,
the Israelites bring the Ark to Jerusalem
where King Solomon builds a temple for it.
- On the top of a hill called Mount Moriah,
Solomon constructs a massive holy compound.
He has the hill leveled flat,
and it becomes known as the Temple Mount.
At the center of the temple,
Solomon builds a chamber called the Holy of Holies.
The Ark of the Covenant is placed inside
and it becomes the central focal point
of the Israelite religion.
God now has a permanent home amongst humankind
where he can speak to his followers.
- [Dennis] For around 400 years,
the Ark remains in the temple undisturbed,
until 587 BC.
- There's a rival kingdom right next door in Mesopotamia
called the Babylonians, led by King Nebuchadnezzar II.
- The Babylonians wage a savage war against Jerusalem.
After a 30-month-long siege,
they completely destroy the city, tearing down the temple
and lighting the whole place on fire.
- As far as the Bible is concerned, this is
the last mention of the Ark of the Covenant's location.
It's in Jerusalem, and then Jerusalem is destroyed.
So from here, you have basically two options.
Either the Ark is destroyed along with the temple,
or it's not.
- [Dennis] If it survives, where could it be?
- In a Jewish source called the Mishna,
it's believed that just before the Babylonians close in,
the prophet Jeremiah is able to hide the Ark
in a secret passageway underneath the temple.
- Remember, Jerusalem is under siege
for nearly three years before its destruction.
Getting the Ark out of the city might've been too difficult.
- There are hundreds, maybe thousands of chambers
and tunnels inside Mount Moriah,
but exploring them is nearly impossible
due to the all important and fragile
historical sites all around, as well as the politics
between the Jewish and Muslim and Christian communities.
The Temple Mount is currently under Islamic control.
- But these considerable challenges
haven't stopped a few notable people
from trying to find the Ark within Mount Moriah.
- [Dennis] Including amateur archeologist Ron Wyatt.
- Wyatt starts out as a nurse anesthetist.
He's an evangelical Christian
and he becomes fascinated by biblical history.
He makes over a hundred trips to the Holy Land,
trying to locate multiple biblical artifacts.
By around 1980, Wyatt focuses his efforts
on finding the Ark of the Covenant under Mount Moriah.
So he starts by exploring some of the tunnels
that enter in from the north,
and Wyatt claims to see the chamber and tunnel
that has remained untouched.
It's completely empty and undisturbed.
He takes this to mean
that nobody has ever discovered it before.
- He spots a large stalactite hanging from the roof
and it appears to be blocking a chamber behind it.
According to Wyatt, he squeezes through,
takes out his flashlight,
and he immediately sees something
on the far side of the chamber.
He realizes he's looking at a large case
that's sitting on a stone platform.
- [Dennis] To get a closer look,
Wyatt brings in a surprising piece of equipment.
- He uses a colonoscope,
the same thing that doctors use to do colonoscopies,
to look inside.
Remember, he's trained as a nurse anesthetist,
not an archeologist.
He drills a 5/8th-inch hole into the stone case
and he inserts his camera.
Wyatt claims to see that there's a box
with a flat golden side,
and on top, he sees a cherub.
This is it.
He believes he's found the Ark of the Covenant.
- [Dennis] But Wyatt keeps the details
of his discovery a secret.
- Wyatt says that God instructs him
to leave the Ark just as he found it.
God tells him that there will be a time
leading up to the apocalypse
when all will finally be revealed,
where the Ark will be restored to its glory.
- So Wyatt seals up the cave
and doesn't reveal its exact location.
He passes away in 1999.
Who knows? Maybe someday, they'll get an excavation permit
and be able to prove Wyatt's claims.
But until that happens, most Ark hunters think
it's best to keep looking elsewhere.
- [Dennis] According to the Bible,
the Ark of the Covenant's last known location
is Solomon's temple in Jerusalem,
before it completely disappears from the historical record
in 587 BC.
- That's the same time the Babylonians
lay siege to Jerusalem and eventually destroy the temple
and some believe, along with it, the Ark.
- [Dennis] But one scripture called 2 Maccabees
offers a different possibility.
The Ark might have been saved by a prophet named Jeremiah.
- Jeremiah receives a divine message,
which the scripture calls an oracle.
And then, having received this oracle,
Jeremiah, and I'm quoting,
"Ordered that the Ark should follow with him."
So they pick up the Ark, along with a couple
of other temple treasures, and they sneak out of Jerusalem.
- He gets around the Babylonian blockade
and Jeremiah is ordered to take these holy objects
to, quote, "The mountain where Moses went up
and saw the inheritance of God."
- [Dennis] In the Bible, that location is Mount Nebo,
which is in present day Jordan.
- According to 2 Maccabees,
Jeremiah came and found a cave dwelling,
and he brought there the Ark and the altar of incense,
and he sealed up the entrance.
- So 2 Maccabees serves as a kind of treasure map
for people who wanna find the Ark and follow Jeremiah's path
and look for a cave that's been sealed up.
- [Dennis] Including a Bible school teacher
named A.F. Futterer.
- Futterer is born in Australia in 1871
and from an early age, he has a great passion for adventure.
- When he isn't teaching scripture,
he spends his time researching his other passion,
the Ark of the Covenant.
- He studies everything about the Ark
that he can get his hands on.
And in 1926, after two years of preparation,
he sets out to find it.
Futterer travels to what was then called
the Emirate of Transjordan.
- [Dennis] When he arrives in 1926,
Futterer and two assistants hike to the top of Mount Nebo.
- Once they're at the summit,
Futterer spots an indentation that's sealed by stone,
similar to what's described in 2 Maccabees.
- Futterer sees an opening in the roof of the cave
where the indentation is
and he has the assistants lower him inside on a rope.
Once he reaches the ground,
he sees a long corridor with drawings on one of the walls.
As he gets closer, he believes that the markings
are some kind of pre-Christian petroglyphs.
- He takes his journal out and he draws a sketch
of everything that he sees on the wall.
- At this point, Futterer is convinced
he's in the right place.
He believes the Ark must be hidden or buried
somewhere in this cave.
- [Dennis] There's only one problem.
- Because the cave is a historical site,
Futterer is forbidden from doing any kind of excavation.
- [Dennis] Despite leaving empty handed,
Futterer doesn't give up.
- So the story goes that, with his journal in hand,
Futterer goes back to Jerusalem
and he shows his sketches to a scholar of Hebrew.
The scholar looks at Futterer and tells him,
"This says, 'Herein lies the golden Ark.'"
[intense music]
- Futterer is ecstatic.
He goes back to the local authorities
and tries everything in his power to get permission to dig,
but they just won't budge.
So, similar to Ron Wyatt, Futterer believes
his experience is simply part of God's plan,
that the Ark is not meant to be found yet.
- [Dennis] A.F. Futterer dies in 1951,
but his work inspires others to pick up where he left off.
- Decades later, an amateur archeologist
named Thomas Crotser
aims to build on Futterer's work looking for the Ark.
Crotser gets a hold of Futterer's original drawings
from inside the cave
and he sets off to Jordan with three associates in 1981.
- Crotser and his friends plan to search the area
around the top of Mount Nebo.
But before they go any further,
they have to get permission from the Franciscan monastery
that now owns the land at the summit.
- The director of the monastery issues Crotser a permit
that grants them permission to explore
and photograph the caves,
but they only have five days to search.
On their last day on the mountain, they find a cave
that appears to perfectly match Futterer's drawings.
- Eventually, they come to a wall blocking their path.
Luckily, there's a small hole in the wall
allowing them to squeeze through one at a time.
- According to Crotser's account,
they encounter two more walls.
This time, they have to break through to get past.
This totally goes against the rules of the permit,
but they do it anyways,
and they find themselves inside a small chamber.
- Crotser turns on his flashlight
and right in front of him, he sees a gold colored box
that can only be the Ark of the Covenant.
Next to the box, the men see a wrapped bundle of poles
like the ones that would've been used to carry the Ark.
- [Dennis] Crotser measures the box
and remarkably, the dimensions match the biblical account.
- Crotser knows removing the Ark from the cave
would have pretty grave consequences,
and he decides that the best thing that they could do
would be to photograph the Ark.
- [Dennis] When he gets back to the US,
Crotser announces his discovery to the media
in November of 1981.
- In response to Crotser's announcement,
the Biblical Archeology Review Magazine
sends a prominent archeologist to interview Crotser
and review his evidence.
- Crotser shows Dr. Siegfried Horn slides of the photos
he took inside the cave chamber,
but nearly all of the slides are dark and blurry
and Horn can't really tell what he's looking at.
- Just as he's about to write off Crotser's story as a hoax,
he sees two pictures that are of reasonable quality,
and in these photos, he sees what appears to be an Ark.
[dramatic music]
Horn's magazine wants him to fly to Jordan
to verify what Crotser claims to be the Ark of the Covenant.
But before Horn can make his trip to Mount Nebo,
the trip is canceled.
- Once the Jordanian government learns that Crotser's team
disobeyed the rules and dug inside the cave,
they cancel all archeological permits
for the foreseeable future.
This means that nobody has been back inside the cave
for more than 40 years.
- [Dennis] The search for the Ark of the Covenant
has crisscrossed the globe and continues today.
But one group in particular believes
it's all been a wasted effort,
because they already know where it is.
- Judaism has a very, very long history in Ethiopia.
When the Jews fled Egypt, they did it in two directions.
One going south along the Nile,
which brings you right to Ethiopia,
and the other one north through the desert,
and eventually into Israel.
So the Ethiopian Jews were there right from the very start.
- Ethiopian texts give several different accounts
about how the Ark got into their possession,
but all of them state that it was willfully
and rightfully brought there.
- [Dennis] In 2002, researcher Bob Cornuke
attempts to get to the bottom of this.
- Bob Cornuke is a former crime scene investigator
and he leads a team called BASE,
Bible Archeology Search and Expedition.
He starts by trying to figure out
precisely when and why the Ark was taken out of Jerusalem.
He believes it happened before the Babylonian invasion,
around 687 BC, during the reign of King Menasseh.
- Menasseh is a nefarious ruler who, quote,
"Shed so much innocent blood
that he filled Jerusalem from end to end."
He kills his son by burning him alive.
He also murders the prophet Isaiah.
These acts greatly disturb the Levite priests of Jerusalem
who are tasked with maintaining the temple
and keeping the Ark.
So under the cover of darkness,
the priests grab the Ark and flee the city.
- [Dennis] Next, they supposedly
travel down the Nile River to Elephantine Island in Egypt,
where a small colony of Jews have migrated from Israel.
- So that's where Cornuke goes.
He arrives at Elephantine Island
and his team immediately begins to investigate.
They claim to discover the ruins of a temple
with the same dimensions of Solomon's temple in Jerusalem.
They're able to determine that the temple was built
around 650 BC.
- According to Israelite law,
temples were not supposed to be built outside of Jerusalem.
The only reason a temple would've been built
would be to house something as magnificent
and as holy as the Ark of the Covenant.
- [Dennis] But to Cornuke's disappointment,
the Ark is no longer there.
- Cornuke is told that the Ark was taken long ago
to the city of Aksum, and now resides
in the Chapel of the Tablet next door
to the Cathedral of our Lady Mary of Zion.
- So Bob Cornuke goes to Aksum,
but only one person is allowed to have access to the Ark,
and that's the guardian monk of the Ark.
No one else is allowed in.
- Cornuke is allowed to speak with the guardian,
who tells him that, "Yes, indeed, the Ark is here
in the chapel behind me."
But it'll never be shown to the world,
out of fear that it's far too powerful.
- After his trip to Ethiopia, Cornuke is convinced.
He writes several books about his experience
and the BASE foundation issues a statement.
"What we have concluded is that St. Mary's of Zion Church
in Aksum, Ethiopia is the resting place
either of an incredible replica
of the biblical Ark of the Covenant,
or of the actual Ark of the Covenant itself.
- There are individuals who believe
the Ark might be elsewhere,
but the only place that has consistently said
for hundreds and hundreds of years that,
"Yes, we have the Ark here," is Ethiopia in the town of Aksum.
- According to the Book of Exodus,
the Israelites might not have survived their many trials
without help from the Ark of the Covenant.
But it's not the only Ark featured in the Bible.
Go back even earlier to the Book of Genesis
and you'll find another,
and this one is tasked with saving all of humanity.
- The story of Noah's Ark from the Book of Genesis
is one of the best known and most scrutinized
tales in the Bible.
- Noah's Ark is designed to save all of creation,
where the Ark of the Covenant
was designed specifically for the children of Israel.
Noah's Ark, it benefits us all.
- According to a common interpretation
of biblical chronology,
about 1,600 years or so after God creates Adam,
God becomes angry
about humankind's corrupt and wicked ways.
So he decides to basically
obliterate everyone and start over.
- God chooses to spare a righteous man named Noah.
He tells Noah to build an ark,
which in this case is not a small golden box,
but rather a giant wood vessel to float on water
during an impending flood of epic proportions.
- And God himself decides to provide
detailed instructions and plans to Noah.
He says it's going to be built using gopher wood.
It should have a door, a roof, three decks,
and many, many rooms.
God says, "The length of the Ark shall be 300 cubits,
its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits."
- This translates to the Ark being about 80 feet wide,
50 feet tall, and a whopping 500 feet long,
or about one and a half football fields.
- Noah, his wife, their three sons, and their wives
will be the only people allowed to board the Ark,
but they'll be sharing it with a male and female
of every kind of land animal and bird
which God orders Noah to collect.
Noah gathers all of the animals.
By some estimates, there are as many as 6,800 of them,
along with enough food for everyone
to survive such a long flood.
[thunder booming]
- When the Ark is finally ready to go, the heavens open
and it rains nonstop for 40 days and 40 nights,
cleansing the Earth of sin and wickedness,
and all living creatures that didn't end up on that boat.
- [Dennis] When the rain stops, the Book of Genesis says
that the Ark comes to rest in a place called
the Mountains of Ararat.
- So after the water subsided,
Noah sends out all the animals
and they started rebuilding civilization.
- While we don't know the ancient location
of the mountains of Ararat, there is a mountainous area
between Armenia and Eastern Turkey where there is in fact
a mountain currently named Mount Ararat.
That place has been the focus of most of the searches,
based on the assumption that the mountain's name
goes all the way back to the biblical account.
- [Dennis] For centuries, the search for Noah's Ark
yields minimal results.
- Unlike the Ark of the Covenant,
it's harder to convince people that you found Noah's Ark.
Many believe that the story just never happened.
- [Dennis] But in 2000,
a famous archeologist claims to have proof
that at least part of the story is real.
- [Dennis] While the biblical story of Noah's Ark
has been told for thousands of years,
many people have questioned its historical accuracy.
- It's hard to imagine that at any point in human history,
a flood could've engulfed the entire Earth.
With what we know about geology, it's just not feasible.
- [Dennis] But in 1999, a famous explorer
sets out to find solid evidence.
- Robert Ballard is a former Navy officer
and underwater archeologist who's become world famous
because in 1985, he locates the wreck of the Titanic.
- His resume is pretty impeccable.
After he locates the Titanic find,
he locates the Bismarck in 1989
and the USS Yorktown in 1998.
The following year, in 1999,
he sets his sights on the story of Noah's Ark.
- Ballard joins a team of archeologists
that are studying the Black Sea, which borders Turkey
and isn't too far from Mount Ararat.
They have a theory that there might've been
a massive ancient flood in this area,
big enough that the people of the time
would've considered it a world-ending flood,
and that this could've inspired the story of Noah's Ark.
- [Dennis] The team starts by analyzing
layers of soil in the area
and conducts sonar searches underwater.
- The sonar comes back with an incredible result.
They find the remains of an ancient civilization,
approximately 7,000 years old,
who perished during a catastrophic flood.
This is a large community found 300 feet down
at the bottom of the Black Sea.
But back then, they lived on the shore
of a much smaller, freshwater lake.
- 7,000 years ago,
there are glaciers covering northern Europe.
But as they rapidly melt,
the Mediterranean sea rises incredibly quickly
and pushes a channel through the Bosphorus,
flooding the area with salt water
at a rate of 200 times the volume of Niagara Falls.
The flood waters are so fast moving
that the people would've been pushed inland
at a rate of over a mile per day.
So by the end, around 100,000 square miles are inundated.
- This is as far as the eye can see, and well beyond.
To any ancient human in the area,
this is certainly equivalent to the whole world flooding.
- [Dennis] Their incredible findings
are announced to the press in 2000.
- They say, this could be Noah's Flood,
or at least it's inspiration.
They're quick to point out that they didn't find
a massive boat or anything like that.
But as far as a flood is concerned,
a really, really big one
happened right here near Mount Ararat,
where the Bible places the story of the Ark.
- And of course, the press runs wild with it.
"Noah's flood found."
It makes a major international stir.
- [Dennis] But what about the actual Ark?
- The announcement by Ballard's team in 2000
completely reignites this desire to hunt for Noah's Ark,
because that's how you can actually prove
the biblical story, find the boat.
- [Dennis] One determined group
of amateur archeologists from Hong Kong makes headlines
when they go to Turkey in 2004 to look for it.
- Noah's Ark Ministries International, or NAMI,
convinces the Turkish government to issue them a permit
and allow their team up to explore
the summit of Mount Ararat.
It turns out to be a very difficult climb.
The weather is bad, but they do make it
to nearly 14,000 feet,
and at that altitude, they find a wooden object
they believe to be part of Noah's Ark.
- The team wants to take a sample
of the wooden object for testing,
but bad weather makes it impossible.
So they do the next best thing, they shoot video.
- [Dennis] When the NAMI team gets back to Hong Kong,
they hold a press conference
announcing they found Noah's Ark.
- This is incredible.
For once, someone has actually managed to film the thing.
We should finally be able to figure this out.
They show the video they shot, but it's blurry
and nobody is really that impressed,
except for one person,
a Turkish climber named Ahmet Ertugrul.
- [Dennis] In 2006, Ertugrul heads to Mount Ararat
to bring back a piece of the Ark.
- Along the way to the site, at about 13,000 feet,
he sees a cave and decides to explore it.
Ertugrul goes inside and claims to see
this incredible wooden structure,
which he believes must be Noah's Ark.
The structure is made of wood that's so old
that it's become petrified.
Ertugrul cuts a chunk of this wood off
and he sticks it in his pocket.
Once Ertugrul comes down from the mountain,
he calls the team and he tells them what he's found.
- NAMI sends the sample to a laboratory
at the University of Hong Kong for testing.
They have yet to release the results of this test,
but whatever it found, it's enough to convince them
to return to the site.
- [Dennis] In 2007, the organization
sends a new team of 10 researchers to Mount Ararat.
- This is the moment of truth.
The previous NAMI team found a piece of wood.
Ertugrul located even more.
They're convinced the Ark is up there.
They just need to finally convince the world.
[intense music]
- After coming home empty handed,
in 2007, a team from Noah's Ark Ministries International,
or NAMI, heads to Mount Ararat, in Turkey,
for a second attempt to find Noah's Ark.
And this time, they're determined
to bring back undisputed proof.
- The team first ascends to the same spot near 14,000 feet
where they previously found the wooden beam,
but when they reach the site, it's gone.
An earthquake has leveled the entire area.
Next, the team descends back to 13,000 feet
where Ertugrul found the cave, and they find it too.
- Several of the team members enter the cave
and they claim to see exactly what Ertugrul described.
There's this incredible wooden structure
that has all these dark slabs of timber,
and they measure it to be about 38 feet in length
and more than eight feet in height.
- The NAMI team not only take wood samples this time,
but they also shoot extensive video
of a much higher quality than the initial video.
- [Dennis] When they return to Hong Kong,
NAMI submits the wooden samples for radiocarbon dating.
- The NAMI team once again holds a press conference
and this time, people are blown away.
The video is clear and compelling
and the carbon dating places the wood
at around 4,800 years old.
They believe this is when Noah's biblical flood takes place.
- [Dennis] But not everyone's convinced.
- In 2008, Andrew Snelling,
who's a scientist who reviews the results,
tells the press that only one out of four of their samples
dates back 4,800 years.
The others are much newer.
- This result causes many people to doubt
their overall claim that this is indeed Noah's Ark.
- [Dennis] Then in 2011, NAMI ultimately disbands.
- At this point, the Turkish government
has sort of discouraged these sorts of expeditions.
They have declined to reveal these locations.
And why would they do this?
The general idea is that this has become
just too much of a magnet for problematic treasure hunters.
- Ararat is a dangerous place.
They probably don't want the bad press
of anyone dying up there hunting for the Ark.
And at this point, it's not as if it's an unexplored area.
There are expeditions in 1948, in 1952, in 1955,
in 1982, and 1983.
The list goes on and on.
- It's been pretty thoroughly searched.
Whatever the NAMI team found, maybe we'll eventually get
indisputable proof of what it is.
Meanwhile, we probably don't need to go
trekking around Mount Ararat anytime soon.
- [Dennis] Is it possible the Ark could be somewhere else?
- The Bible lists the final landing spot
as, "the mountains of Ararat."
But the truth is that the mountain in Turkey
was named way, way after the fact.
It got its name from the Bible.
It was named after the story, not the other way around.
So there's no indication
that this is the actual mountain from the Bible.
- [Dennis] This opens up an endless array
of new possibilities.
- Amateur archeologist, Bob Cornuke,
famous for his hunt for the Ark of the Covenant,
also wants to find Noah's Ark.
After quote, unquote, "finding the Ark of the Covenant"
in the surprising location of Ethiopia,
he comes to believe that there's a similar reason
that no one has found Noah's Ark.
They've been looking in the wrong place.
[dramatic music]
- [Dennis] For thousands of years,
people hunting for Noah's Ark have focused exclusively
on Turkey's Mount Ararat.
But in 2005, one researcher claims that the actual location
is much farther away.
- Bob Cornuke,
who's already been to Mount Ararat like everyone else,
he doesn't find the Ark.
But then he meets a man named Ed Davis.
- In 1943, Ed Davis is working for the Army Corps of Engineers
in the Hamadan Province in Iran.
According to Davis, the locals take him up
to the top of a mountain, 13,000 feet up,
and they show him what they believe to be
the remains of Noah's Ark.
- [Dennis] For confirmation,
Cornuke looks at an ancient map of the area.
- One of the earliest world maps is a huge,
four foot by five foot, medieval, hand-drawn parchment
called the Hereford Mappa Mundi
and right in the center of it is Noah's Ark.
It's an Hamadan, which is right next to
where Ed Davis is stationed.
- Cornuke finds a mountain near that area
called Mount Suleyman,
which is another name for King Solomon.
This is unusual, because it's the only place anywhere nearby
with a biblical name.
- [Dennis] The evidence is enough to convince Cornuke
to search the site himself in July of 2005.
- He reaches 13,000 feet in elevation,
right at the same spot where Ed Davis described the Ark,
and nearby, Cornuke finds fossilized clams.
Since they're way up here on the top of a mountain,
he believes this is proof
that there was a massive ancient flood in the area.
- A little further up, he finds several rocks
that are quote, "Uncannily beam-like in appearance."
Cornuke believes that these rocks
are actually petrified wood.
- Good, good, good.
Can you get it? - Yeah.
- Oh, baby.
That looks like a piece of wood, guys.
- He also believes that he finds a worship shrine
that's littered with wooden fragments.
- [Dennis] Soon after, Cornuke has the rocks analyzed.
- Sure enough, they are petrified wood.
Unfortunately, because it's petrified,
this wood can't be dated.
- The other wood fragments he finds,
he's able to have those dated.
They turn out to be only 500 years old,
so they can't possibly be from Noah's Ark.
- Cornuke is not ready to give up.
He believes that even though it's not that old,
this wood is part of a structure
that has been built and rebuilt across thousands of years,
a place where visitors could come to pray and worship
at the site of Noah's Ark.
- He believes ancient people
may have been commemorating this site
basically ever since the Ark originally came to rest here.
- The political situation in the area
has prevented Cornuke from any further research,
but he hopes to one day be able to go back to Iran
and pursue evidence on his theory of Noah's Ark.
[tense music]
- As for the big ancient flood that Noah might have endured,
there's a good chance a version of that
actually did take place.
Studies have found evidence of massive ancient floods
between five and 10,000 years old in India,
various parts of Europe, and the Middle East,
and various religions in all these areas
tell their own flood stories.
- So what's intriguing to me
is that these flood myths all are from many cultures,
but they do share certain similarities.
So it's possible that these tales
are told through many generations,
until they're finally written down in the book of Genesis
and given a hero like Noah, or Gilgamesh, or Utnapishtim.
The ancient experience of the Israelites
with the Ark of the Covenant,
and the story of Noah and his Ark,
they weren't just made up out of thin air.
They came from stories of real people,
real objects, and real events.
Maybe they got embellished and changed along the way,
but there is some truth at their core.
- Two powerful Arks,
two stories of tragedy, triumph, and salvation.
It's easy to see why these incredible biblical artifacts
have inspired so many.
Until both Arks are finally discovered one thing is certain,
we will continue to look for them.
I'm Dennis Quaid, and thank you for watching Holy Marvels.